PARENTING and POVERTY

[Opiate32]

We talk a lot about the joy of having children but what about the financial responsibility that comes with raising the children. Having children is one thing but being able to provide for them has they grow is another. From feeding to paying school fees, healthcare, buying cloths and other day to day needs which doesn’t stop until after a few years.

I’m not saying someone must be rich before having children, that will sound unrealistic. Financial situation change and some people who tend to be doing well when they started a family eventually find themselves struggling. There are also parents who earn very little but still make real sacrifices to make sure their children have a good life. But what happens when the number of children a family has is far beyond what its income can support?

It’s not always about parent not wanting to sacrifice for their children but sometimes there is not just enough money to go around all at the same time. One child may need school fees and another may be asking to sort out medical attention while the household itself still has to worry about food and rent. The difficult part is that the children don’t even understand this struggles that the parents are facing, all they know is just what they need.

I also wonder if this is one of the reasons why poverty continues from one generation to another. Parent struggle to provide, children grow up with limited opportunities and this same children may eventually still find themselves facing similar difficulties as their parents. Money is not everything , a child can grow up in a rich family and still lack proper care just as someone from a poor family can grow up to achieve great things.

Do you think one needs to be financially ready before deciding to have children?
Can having more children contribute to generational poverty?

[JoyceBTC]

In this present generation and time, partners need to be financially ready before have child/children. Gone are those days where people bring children to the world to suffer without having anything and they have the belief that God will provide and they keep giving birth to more, hoping for God to provide. At the rate of hardship and inflation in this present generation, if you’re not financially ready and you bring a child into this world, you might end up losing that child since you don’t have the finances to maintain and take care of the child.
Even when you’re financially ready to have a child or start having children, be sure of the number of children you can finance for to avoid given birth to number of children you can’t care for.

[iDEEMEE]

Looking back a lot of our parents weren’t rich before giving birth to us but we ate, had a roof, went to school. We may not having experienced luxurious lifestyles but I think our parents did well with what they had. Having a source of income is important though. But if you’re waiting till you’re financially stable you mostly likely may start having kids in your old age because the world is facing one problem or the other, pandemics, inflation, poor policies. All these things have direct or indirect impacts on financial stability.

Another important thing is born as much as you can take care of. Having two kids is okay or one if that’s what your immediate resources can handle. Don’t wait till everything is perfect, start where you are and eventually you’ll watch your kids grow, go to school, get jobs or businesses and become good adults if well trained.

[Sanitough]

Even if the government tries to control the number of kids parents can have, it still does not guarantee that it will reduce poverty. It's not just about the parents, the major reason is the government, because if the government is managing the country well, there will always be jobs for everyone. Look at China, their population is huge but their economy is doing well, so it's all about the leaders and not just the parents when it comes to generating jobs.

[Fortify]

Do you think one needs to be financially ready before deciding to have children?
Can having more children contribute to generational poverty?

In an ideal world people would be financially ready, but it's almost never the case in the real world. Lots of babies were "unexpected" and parents just learn how to make it work. Being rich doesn't magically make you a great parent but maybe it makes the process a little easier. There are poor people who make fantastic parents and there are rich people who make terrible parents. Decisions are easier when money is less of a factor, that's for sure, but it can actually be other things that matter. A parent that takes their children out into the world, teaches them proper manners, supports them through education, doesn't spoil them, encourages athletic pursuits and doesn't parent by tablet is important. On your last point, yes, bringing far too many children into a family that barely survives is irresponsible but we see it in many places like Africa and Asia - parents often using their children as a retirement safety net so they want as many as possible - a very selfish move and often bad for the whole society around them if it's not developed enough.

[Pearl_20]

There's about life, one can't predict how life turns out at the end it is good to make plans for children even before they start coming and those plans include you deciding on the number of kids to have, the spacing and their wellbeing. The rate at which children begs and hawks on the streets is alarming and this is a cause of poor family planning there are couples who barely have what to eat but they can give birth every single year and you see the children very small with minimal age gap with stunted growth because of malnutrition.

Life isn't predictable, we have some wealthy people who are well to do but they're looking for a way to just have a child and then those who don't even have money but are very productive, I just feel that you don't have to get your life all together before you do so, as long as you have something that fetches you money and a good roof over your head there's nothing wrong in planning to have kids and most times along the way things changes for better. The message that we need to spread especially to those women in the village is to do family planning and that awareness should be both husband and wife, whether you're rich, or poor just make sure you and your partner should agree on the number of children you can take care of, it's the collective effort of both parents that brings a child to the world so they're the ones that should be held responsible.

[Oasisman]

Do you think one needs to be financially ready before deciding to have children?
Can having more children contribute to generational poverty?

Absolutely. It is very important that a man should be financially ready even before deciding to marry a woman. Having children even needs more finances.

And the answer to the question is probably yes, but It can change later on when every children is passionate about breaking the poverty in their generation.
I knew a family of 12 who have been struggling when they were still young. Then eventually more than half of them finished their studies with the help of the elder siblings sacrificing their studies to let the young ones finish. From now on, they have already broke their generational poverty.