Don't want to bring a child into this world

The Mighty Quinn

Are there many would-like-to-be parents with this mindset?

I'm not. I have two little girls and the environment or state of the world wasn't a factor in their being. I see this trotted out online, but is it really a factor for people in Ireland?

I don't mean the "I'd love another child but can't afford it" people, that's responsible in my view, but rather I'm talking about "the world is fucked, overpopulation is a huge problem, this world is too awful" cohort.

Are there any of you on boards? You'd genuinely like children but your social or moral beliefs make you feel you just can't? I'd like to hear your views.

Donald Trump

Your post is after putting a lot of people off their Saturday morning ride OP.

The Mighty Quinn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119406831#Comment_119406831

Ah. The people with no children who might have that luxury!

Andrewf20

I suppose you could say the same at any point in history. Life for a family and children would have been fairly grim 1000 or even 200 years ago for most people.

The reality is that for the most part, life is pretty darn amazing now & it may if even be the best time to be alive ever. If only the cost of owning a property wasnt so crazy and we could get our consumption habits in check we would then be doing extremely well.

I think for potential parents they see life with kids are bloody expensive and just too hard. Relentless stress, long work hours and hectic schedules. Why bother. But it appears its the cost of buying a home that's driving this.

Former Former Former

I'd say it's far more likely that such people don't really want kids and think this is a better line to spin.

FunLover18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058256747/dont-want-to-bring-a-child-into-this-world

I'm of this mindset but I'm not someone who genuinely wants kids either. If the world was a better place I probably still wouldn't want them but the moral implications are a big factor. I believe in climate change and I believe it is as bad as they say and we're not doing enough and I include myself in that, I'm not taking the high ground here. I worry what the world will be like for me let alone people who don't exist yet. But as I said it's not a massive burden as it's not something I want for myself either way.

People only think the world is f*cked because the irresponsible media have become addicted to all that disaster/doom stuff and the politicians seem to use it to their advantage to avoid the real immediate issues.

COVID is a mild illness. Monkeypox is a non issue. Global warming is an issue that needs action but the world is unlikely to explode anytime soon. Overpopulation is also an issue but not a disaster.

Sometimes with all the hysteria people easily forget all the good things.

The Mighty Quinn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119406889#Comment_119406889

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119406906#Comment_119406906

So, this is kinda case in point. People spinning this line seem to not actually want children.

I'd agree it seems to me the safest and best time to ever have children. But yeah, expensive.

drunkmonkey

Greta said she holds no grudge against people who want to have kids, pretty darn sound of her.

Not sure what else could be holding back people besides climate alarmists.

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058256747/dont-want-to-bring-a-child-into-this-world

How is Ireland isolated from the world exactly ? Are we allowed to keep spending and borrowing ? Are we doing anything to protect the air, soil, water, environment for our kids and their kids ? There isn't an endless supply of resources. Do you care about nature ? Do you want to destroy nature ? For our kids ?

Edit

When the Last Tree Is Cut Down, the Last Fish Eaten, and the Last Stream Poisoned, You Will Realize That You Cannot Eat Money

slay55

Don’t really understand what kids offer parents? A purpose ?

the world is an awful place , economic hardships, limited resources

being a parent brings worry, stress too

Still stihl waters 3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119406978#Comment_119406978

Maybe not wanting kids is holding them back

growleaves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058256747/dont-want-to-bring-a-child-into-this-world

I used to feel this way but I no longer do. I think it is a form of despair and wrong to think this way.

Ireland isn't overpopulated. We've already had a massive depopulation event in the 19th century and we've not really recovered.

Since the 1960s Western aid intervention to sub-Saharan Africa (and the rest of the third world) has led to a global population explosion. Before that, African populations were sparse and these smaller populations weren't on the brink of starvation and also had a higher standard of living (more resources to go around, including food, like Europe in the 1400s).

People are in the grip of some kind of extreme despair ('senslessness' the late Desmond Fennell called it) if they specifically want Irish people to go out of existence, which is what many people are in practice calling for.

drunkmonkey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119407012#Comment_119407012

There not what the thread is for, some people don't for their own reasons and that's fine it's the ones that don't want to add to climate change or fear they'll go up a Trumper we're on about.

Loafing Oaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119406831#Comment_119406831

Hardly you though Donald. Surely the fragrant Melania is past worrying about these matters at this stage? Or are you up to your old tricks with a bit on the side?

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119407054#Comment_119407054

Melania under strict contract for once a month. Spend most of the rest of my time chasing Ivanka. No joy yet.

donaghs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119407027#Comment_119407027

The island of Ireland's population is now almost 7 million, so getting close to that 19th century peak.

But I agree on the hysteria, how did people in Europe have children at the start of WW2 when the future looked so bleak?

The replacement rate in a developed country is 2.1 children. So having one or two kids is nothing to do with overpopulation.

Plus Ireland's birth has been falling for decades.

...Ghost...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119406995#Comment_119406995

It's built into every living thing to pass their genetic material on. Of course, as humans, we have developed and evolved into animals who have better control over these decisions and can actively prevent this for ourselves, or delay it until we want to have children (for the most part....unplanned pregnancies happen).

Kids give our lives purpose for sure. Any parent would give their lives up for their kid(s) in a second if they had to...unless the parent is an estranged psychopath. It also means you probably have someone to look after you, or look out for you in your elder years, which is definitely a good thing in society.

The world is both an awful and a great place. Here in Ireland, our property prices might be sky high, but we live in a relatively safe country with low crime crime rates and we are not exposed to natural disasters and dangerous weather events like other parts of the world are.

We also have a great education system where even those in the lowest parts of poverty can achieve academic and professional success if they work for it; not to mention the fact that even those who choose not to work for a living are given free houses if they wait long enough.

The worlds resources may well be limited, but in a few decades, we will be harvesting resources from other celestial bodies and maybe before then we will have our sh1t in better order.

Being a parent brings worry and stress, but so does pretty much everything worthwhile. There are plenty of snowflakes out there who will never be parents, not because they don't want kids, but because they can only focus on the negatives put out there and will give themselves excuses until it's too late and then even the IVF will fail them. Kids are not as expensive as people make out. Paying a private business for childcare is really the only thing that makes having children expensive. Not everyone is lucky enough to have family help for childcare, so I would love to see the government finally get this problem sorted and make childcare affordable/free, because kids properly taken care of, educated and given direction will only ever be a benefit to society...even for those who cannot, or choose not to have them.

Loafing Oaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119407069#Comment_119407069

Oh right. If you intend running for pres again, be careful no account of this pursuit gets into the public domain. I mean I know your voters swallowed this but...

https://nypost.com/2016/10/07/trump-says-he-tried-to-f-k-a-married-woman-in-2005-video/

drunkmonkey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119406995#Comment_119406995

You get a 2nd, 3rd, 4th + chance at being a kid again.

Only really hit me when I wore the knees out of my jeans from racing on all fours up and down the hall. It'd been a few decades since that happend last.

World's great, some places are shite, money doesn't always buy smiles, the stress is different, your more worried will one of the kids break their neck rather than what Mary in cubicle 7 thinks of your drunken advances on Friday night after work.

SuperBowserWorld

People at the top of the pyramid are afraid their kids might end up on the bottom. We've pulled the carpet out from under the next generations.

Sustainability is not a personal choice. All for one, one for all.

bad2thebone

The world is ok, as for the cohort of fear mongering people, especially the social justice warriors and fear porn influencers . They're all freaks , I've yet to meet hear or see a fear mongering person or people who are happy, content and vibrantly interesting to be in their company .

Even their speach and tone is as pleasant as a north westerly damp wind wrapping around an asbestos shed hanging on for dear life on the edge of the Atlantic .

If you see them in protest's or in the media they're so angry and frustrated looking. Horrid looking, souless and dead inside, decrepitude, worn out and old before their time.

Why people follow or admire them is a good question ?

There's actually a lot of people who are content and happy out there. My definition of class is the happy class and the sad classes. Working class middle class and upper class is a delusion.

Hobbies and pastimes are what I think brings good people together, I fish,hike and indulge in bushcraft and cosplay and it's great you've old money and people from council estates all mingling together exchanging ideas and not giving a **** about social problems,wars and climate change. They just get on with it.

The happiness is in the activity and being useful.

The Mighty Quinn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119406992#Comment_119406992

What nonsense is this?

Deforestation in Ireland occurred long ago by previous generations. Currently we are trying to reverse this slightly in the guise of afforestation.

We're building new waste water treatment plants around the country to stop flushing raw sewage into the seas, something previous generations did without hesitation.

I don't want to destroy nature, nor am I a save nature nut. But I don't litter, etc etc.

I'm tired of being told this generation is the worst, when in actualitymost care more about the environment by actively doing things. Previous generations didn't actively try help the environment.

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119407199#Comment_119407199

So, you are saying don't give a ****.

Do you actually have kids ?

SuperBowserWorld

Hmm, I've got kids.

Not sure why I'm commenting on this thread..

Au revoir thread.

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119406995#Comment_119406995

Oh get real! Having kids is a joy. The world is a wonderful place if you let it be. Being a parent brings no more real stress than just living. Economic hardships are nothing new for many and a mild distraction for some. Cheer up and stop looking for negatives.

slay55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119407264#Comment_119407264

That’s your opinion, why do I need to get real?

I have a child

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119407319#Comment_119407319

Great but don't project your supposed stresses or hardships on the entire population.

FunLover18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119406953#Comment_119406953

I don't like the idea that it's a line I'm spinning, it's a genuine concern but I'll admit I don't fully meet the criteria you laid out . I think for people who want children the biological need outweighs these concerns. It's our nature to reproduce, that's the purpose of all life. Humans are in a unique position in the animal kingdom that we can actually question that nature and think about the long term effects and consequences.

bad2thebone

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119407219#Comment_119407219

One in Ireland and another in California. Daughters in Cali 25 son's over the road he's 22,I'm 46.

Me never married but supportive and responsible.

slay55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119407333#Comment_119407333

That’s the whole point of a discussion based forum. I give my opinion. You don’t agree, which is perfectly fine. I don’t seem to have my knickers in a twist over a differing outlook.