I appreciate this will likely be quite a divisive thread, however here goes ...
I watched the first in a new three part series last night called 60 Days on the Estates, basically a guy spends x days/nights across different housing estates to see what it's like for those living there. The usual stuff was covered, folk with lack of money, crime, drugs etc.
One thing that struck me however were two (relatively young) woman featured on the show. One of them had lived in a one bed flat since she was 17 and she's still there in her early 30s. However during that time she's had six kids. The oldest appeared to be teen boys, down to toddlers. I don't think the dad/s were on the scene, although the presenter did say she receives money from the dads to help raise the kids. Her story (in the context of the tv prog) was her struggle to get the council to re-house her and the kids. In her defence, the woman did say she was hoping to return to employment soon.
Another woman featured was struggling to make ends meet, using food banks and so on. Again she appeared relatively young but had, wait for it, nine kids! I think she said three lived elsewhere and six with her. I don't think the tv prog touched on whether the dad/s were around or not.
When I see things like this, part of me wonders 'why did you have so many kids?' Let me put it this way and I'm taking slight extremes to make my point. Let's say there's a young professional couple with a good income. They have five kids. Then, after having the kids, they lose their jobs and struggle to make ends meet. However when they had their kids they were earning enough to support the family. Surely that's different from a young couple or single person who start out on a low income and/or benefits deciding to have five kids, no?
My assertion is, whilst it's everyone's (legal) right to have as many kids as they want, surely if you know you're not in a financial position to support more than one or two, you should stop there, no?
In closing, I do understand there can be unplanned pregnancies, I think one of the woman on the show mentioned that i.e. that some of hers were not planned. Nevertheless, this won't always be the case.
What are your views on this?
I watched the first in a new three part series last night called 60 Days on the Estates, basically a guy spends x days/nights across different housing estates to see what it's like for those living there. The usual stuff was covered, folk with lack of money, crime, drugs etc.
One thing that struck me however were two (relatively young) woman featured on the show. One of them had lived in a one bed flat since she was 17 and she's still there in her early 30s. However during that time she's had six kids. The oldest appeared to be teen boys, down to toddlers. I don't think the dad/s were on the scene, although the presenter did say she receives money from the dads to help raise the kids. Her story (in the context of the tv prog) was her struggle to get the council to re-house her and the kids. In her defence, the woman did say she was hoping to return to employment soon.
Another woman featured was struggling to make ends meet, using food banks and so on. Again she appeared relatively young but had, wait for it, nine kids! I think she said three lived elsewhere and six with her. I don't think the tv prog touched on whether the dad/s were around or not.
When I see things like this, part of me wonders 'why did you have so many kids?' Let me put it this way and I'm taking slight extremes to make my point. Let's say there's a young professional couple with a good income. They have five kids. Then, after having the kids, they lose their jobs and struggle to make ends meet. However when they had their kids they were earning enough to support the family. Surely that's different from a young couple or single person who start out on a low income and/or benefits deciding to have five kids, no?
My assertion is, whilst it's everyone's (legal) right to have as many kids as they want, surely if you know you're not in a financial position to support more than one or two, you should stop there, no?
In closing, I do understand there can be unplanned pregnancies, I think one of the woman on the show mentioned that i.e. that some of hers were not planned. Nevertheless, this won't always be the case.
What are your views on this?
