Drawbacks of having LOTS of Kids

[MrWookie]

In an agricultural society, having lots of kids means more free labor to work the farm. They actually make you more money and more prosperous, so people tended to have lots of kids. Nowadays, kids just suck up money until they finally graduate from college. They won't even start to earn their own spending money until 16 or so, and it's not like it'll be going towards their food, clothing, health care, or whatever. In contrast, my dad was driving a tractor at around age 5. When there's actually a financial incentive for having lots of kids, people will have more kids, but in today's society, kids are practically a luxury item that people love dearly. They're much more likely to stop at 1 or 2.

[econophile]

economists often refer to the decision of how many children to have as a quality/quanity tradeoff

[TheMetetron]

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They won't even start to earn their own spending money until 16 or so, and it's not like it'll be going towards their food, clothing, health care, or whatever.

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Most of your post is good, but man oh man are my kids in for a shock (assuming I decide to have any, which is up in the air). Once your ass can get a job, don't come looking to me for new clothes unless your [censored] doesn't fit. Even then, you'd probably be happier buying it with your own money if you are an average teenage kid who wants something "cool". And food outside of meals at home, going out with friends, etc is all coming out of your own money.

Financial responsibility is going to be a big lesson for my kids before they can even get a job, so I'm hoping this won't be an issue. Obviously shelter, meals at home, necessary clothes, and probably even school will be on me. But for fun, get your ass a job.


Also, the obvious downsides to kids are the asston of time and money they consume. The selfish upside is you won't be alone when you are already. That's really the only upside unless you just LOVE kids; having kids is a pretty selfish act but a crapload of work before it pays off.

[CrazyEyez]

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having kids is a pretty selfish act but a crapload of work before it pays off.


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truth

[Shadowrun]

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They won't even start to earn their own spending money until 16 or so, and it's not like it'll be going towards their food, clothing, health care, or whatever.

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Most of your post is good, but man oh man are my kids in for a shock (assuming I decide to have any, which is up in the air). Once your ass can get a job, don't come looking to me for new clothes unless your [censored] doesn't fit. Even then, you'd probably be happier buying it with your own money if you are an average teenage kid who wants something "cool". And food outside of meals at home, going out with friends, etc is all coming out of your own money.

Financial responsibility is going to be a big lesson for my kids before they can even get a job, so I'm hoping this won't be an issue. Obviously shelter, meals at home, necessary clothes, and probably even school will be on me. But for fun, get your ass a job.


Also, the obvious downsides to kids are the asston of time and money they consume. The selfish upside is you won't be alone when you are already. That's really the only upside unless you just LOVE kids; having kids is a pretty selfish act but a crapload of work before it pays off.

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I would hate to be your kid.

[justatrey]

I saw a "what makes you happy" special on the local news several months ago. Health, friends, marriage, sex, money were all on the list, but the biggest surprise (according to them) was that children don't on average make people any happier, but in fact take away from happiness. I believe they said this is mostly due to the loss of freedom. According to them it applies to having any number of kids.

[David H]

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I would think the main 2 are costs and time.

Its hard enough raising 2-3 kids (im guessing this is the standard for most people), imagine how hard 5+ kids are (i consider 5+ a lot)

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Yeah but I think after a certain point an extra kid or three doesn't make much of a difference. So while 3 kids is harder than 1, 8 is probably not much easier than 6.

[Blarg]

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They seem expensive.

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Yeah but the older ones can take care of the younger ones, just make money to pay for food and stuff and then put them to work cleaning the house etc, that's a pretty sweet gig in my opinion.

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Train 'em right and they can basically do all the housework so you don't have to lift a finger. That's pretty much being a dick, though.

[Blarg]

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I would think the main 2 are costs and time.

Its hard enough raising 2-3 kids (im guessing this is the standard for most people), imagine how hard 5+ kids are (i consider 5+ a lot)

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Yeah but I think after a certain point an extra kid or three doesn't make much of a difference. So while 3 kids is harder than 1, 8 is probably not much easier than 6.

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After about three they start to blend together, and after about five they're more or less a unified lump with different noises coming out.

[kyleb]

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economists often refer to the decision of how many children to have as a quality/quanity tradeoff

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!econ_tim