I'm glad I was born, but I cant see why my parents or anyone else would want kids. Nothing but stress, and money spent...until he/she reaches 18..you're a slave. Say good bye to your personal life.
Nice snow, uptik! Havent seen snow for 10 years or so. Some very mushy hail, but no snow. For you parent type folk, were your kids planned or not, and if so/or not, how does that effect your veiw now on having a family?
Well, thats true enough, but-key word is "raising" i guess. What does it mean? I dont have kids, never wanted any, but looking around at what various parents think is acceptable, i couldnt go for that. Slaving away, to make money, to send them to good schools, best toys etc-only to raise a spoiled , no-nuffin brat, because they were too busy making money (for them) to spend time with them, or impart any variety of discipline that could, potentially, make them not-a -spoiled-brat. Double edged sword i guess. And even that's presuming, your partner in the endeavour hasn't divorced your ass, taken the kids leaving you in penury for most of the rest of your life, without actually seeing your kids much, or at all. Maybe a negative view, but governments WANT, high birth rates-and DONT want poor people having kids, or TEEN pregnancies. When i was 17, i saw the writing on the wall, and asked the doc about a vasectomy. No go! Have to be 18! Sooo, they want unplanned pregnancies, single moms and the like; and rely on puritanical abstinence philosophy to acheive it. Fucking hypocrites. The reasoning, was "well if you want kids in a few years time, its expensive blah blah blah to reverse the procedure, im sure you'll change your mind etc"-that, and i was 17, its illegal of course. Never had the opportunity after that. By my calculations, you probably cannot legitimately afford a child, unless you can afford the technical procedures involved in such an exersise. Before anyone busts my chops on this, i said i didnt want any, and took steps to that effect, only to be shut down by bureacracy.
my daughter is a treasure worth about USDbn 4.23. lucky me i got a huge discount and pay back in installments. i do investments to be able to afford things i do not want for their future but their present value. my car is no investment and my holidays aren't either. same with my 4.23nb treasure ...
Still a few weeks from being a parent, but yes, we planned this. Starting a family was our main goal. We had some difficulty and just when it seemed we might not get a chance to have children, presto!
I have two daughters, 18 and 16. My life really started the day my first daughter was born. As they have gotten older, my toys have diminished, and theirs have increased. Sure there was stress, trials and tribulation; but there was and is a joy without bounds. Last week my oldest was in one of those 1st time situations with the outside world. She was interviewed by a CEO. She was cool, calm and collected. When she got home, the hug was one I will remember forever, as she said, "Thanks for your guidance. He asked all the questions you said he would, even asked them in the order you predicted!" To see your kids be able to take what I learned the hard way, add their own talents, and move out faster and father to make the world a better place is my joy. I don't know any trade that would come close to the joy of hearing "Papa, I love you" from either of my kids... as you might imagine we do a lot together as a family. I had a heart attack 7 years ago, Sarah was 11 and Rachel was 9, I didn't know if I would see them thru to "grown up." I thank the Lord for each day, that I was able to be there, to wipe away their tear, to hold their hand, to teach them, laugh with them and some day help them go forward with their husbands and have their families. The joy is in the giving...
Amen to that. What the heck is money for anyway if you can't enjoy it with the ones you love? Having all the money in the world and nobody who REALLY cares about you to do stuff with would be way worse than being destitute. Even Scrooge learned that lesson... SM
monthly cost to feed a toddler... $200.00 monthly medical and schooling for a child around $1000.00 watching your kid score a goal in a little league soccer game... Priceless...
My wife is expecting our first child. 2 months along. There is no way in hell I would spend $16k a year to raise a child. That's over $1,300 a month. They will go to public school, just like I did. They don't need sooo many toys. If you buy them so many things, they just turn into spoiled brats. My cousin's kids in Europe have barely any toys, and they are the most respectful and kindest kids. If you spoil them from the beginning, they grow up not appreciating anything and always expecting for you to get them anything that they want. That $16k/ year figure is just some made up BS number for the masses of sheep out there to keep investing in the stock market so brokerages can keep earning their commissions.