To breed or not to breed?
Last updated: Wednesday, July 22, 2009 PrintWho's more selfish: people who'd rather let others do the work of furthering the human race, or people who think it's fine to bring more children into an already over-crowded world?
Olivia Rose-Innes, Health24's EnviroHealth Editor, speaks up for the childfree, while Adele Hamilton, Editor of Parent24, counters from the parent camp.
The gene stops here!
Olivia
Breeders: an unattractive word, associated with uncontrolled, rabbit-like proliferation. Regrettably sometimes used by people who don’t have children when they’re feeling fed up with people who do.
Very rude of us, and yes, rather childish too. But then, voluntarily childless people – or the more upbeat childfree – have reason to feel fed up, maybe even reason to resort to occasional puerile name-calling.
We're fed up with the absurd ongoing societal disapproval of our decision not to breed, sorry, procreate. With being pitied for our ostensibly unfulfilled, barren lives; with being suspected of turning our backs on what is considered intrinsically life-affirming, natural and Human; and, most unfair and ironic of all, with being labelled selfish.
When really, surely what we deserve are frequent pats on the back and never having to pay for our own drinks.
Because non-conception is hands-down one of the most effective acts an individual can perform to help avert the greatest crisis of our time – make that the greatest crisis of all time: global environmental destruction and the end of our species, never mind all the others.
Selfish? Hey, we’re doing it (or rather not doing it) for the planet.
Too many babies is not a life-affirming or natural state of affairs, though it is a depressingly human one. And there are Too Many Babies. We stand today at close on 6.8 billion beings, each hungering for his or her share of an ever more finely divided pie of desperately strained resources. By mid-century, there will be a frankly terrifying 9+ billion of us.
And if you think with your two offspring all you’re doing is quietly replacing yourself and your partner, no harm done, think again please.
A baby born into privilege will grow up to demand a much bigger slice of that pie than his or her third-world counterpart. He or she will, even in an environmentally conscious home, ingest fancy foodstuffs, enjoy costly high-tech health care, go through all manner of changes of clothes and toys and entertainments, travel far in various motorised vehicles and live long, resource-munching and polluting and billowing greenhouse gas all the way. In terms of sheer numbers, overpopulation is primarily a developing-world phenomenon. In terms of “consumption overpopulation”, no-one does it like the leisured classes.
I feel pretty fervently about this save-the-planet stuff, and it's a serious reason I haven’t had children. But, to be honest, it’s probably not the one that ultimately swayed my decision.
I think the real reasons people choose to procreate or not are more mysterious. Hard as it may be for some of our detractors to believe, I, and growing millions of like-minded others, just feel, on some fundamental, cellular level, that it simply isn’t our destiny. That realisation is cause for commendation, not a cause to be browbeaten into reluctant conformity. To decide to be a parent, a tough enough job to get right, in these times, with the challenges facing us, you should really, really want to be one.
The world can have a few more babies, sure. Let’s just make sure each one of them is truly wanted.
Population stats from the United Nations World Population Prospects 2008 Revision
Why breeding is a must
Adele
The Earth would probably be better off if the human race had never evolved. But we did, and here we are, loving the planet, abusing it, and generally behaving like a bunch of little kids at a party: coloured paper and bodily fluids trailing everywhere.
Does it serve the planet that I have produced another two humans? I believe it does. For these are intelligent, caring and well-educated young people, who in their turn will make the right choices and recycle their beer bottles. Nature is built around replacement and replenishment of every species, and it is hubris to think that the human race is immune from this cycle.
Yes, there are individuals who I can’t help wishing would subscribe to the non-breeders’ credo, but those are usually not the ones who choose to stay childfree. In fact they are most likely to pop out a few children and then allow them to torment me by kicking the back of my seat in an aeroplane. But breed, humans must.
As it is we are facing a situation with an ageing population depending on a dwindling number of young, strong providers. According to a 2007 report by the United Nations, the global number of older persons is expected to exceed the number of children for the first time in 2047. In developed countries this landmark was already passed in 1998, says the report. And although these older persons are probably mostly well-off and healthy for now, they still need young people to keep society moving, from picking fruit to designing new systems of communication.
Even if you argue that all technological and scientific development should halt at once, youth is still necessary. Even the most nature-friendly culture needs people to bend down and pick up fallen fruit, and carry away the dead to be eaten by the jungle beasts.
I don’t think it’s selfish to decide to not to breed, good for you for making a thoughtful lifestyle choice. But please respect the role that we breeders play in keeping the world populated with fruit pickers and computer geeks who enable you to eat organic fruit for breakfast and download carbon-footprint advice. And if we give new generation the power to effect change, they may just be the saving of all of us, by finding better, more environmentally-friendly ways of doing things.
One day, when all the non-breeders are sitting in their recycled-wood rocking chairs, having developed gout from too much red wine and good living, I trust my children will be working hard to keep the Earth in good nick. For their children.
Stats from United Nations publication World Population Ageing 2007.
Photo of Adele by Shawn Benjamin
(- Health24 and Parent24, updated July 2009)
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Closing in on 6.8 billion
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Your Comments
The world is filled with mistakes
I believe if we ask our parents if we were deliberately created. They would say we are mistakes. I was one. So in fact our parents have filled the world with mistakes. Maybe a small percentage of people did intend to have their children but majority just did not know what the hell they were doing or were not ' using their heads' . And as the generations go on, more and more mistakes will happen.
Overcrowded world
I heard an interesting fact, not sure if its true or not - that if you stood the worlds population (6.5billion) shoulder to shoulder they would only cover a country the size of Wales!!! I dont think there is too many of us, its just that we are too greedy and selfish. We have the ability to fly to the moon,and split the atom, yet we cannot feed and house many of our people!! We have the ability to create Heaven on Earth for all - but we are to greedy and selfish
Make the right choice
All I say is before you breed is that you are able to bring up your kids properly. If you dont have the resources, DONT. Unfortuanatly is usualy the lot that sit right at the bottom of the pile that breed the most, and making it someone elses problem to feed them etc
It is overcrowded
Stop and look at the gangs of street kids in the city. Go to the rural areas & look at the swarms of kids there, who usually go to bed hungry.
Someone please tell their parents to close their legs.
babies for babies sake
Personally I think the worst thing possible for this planet is humans(micro reality).The ultimate poison. However . In the context of macro reality, the earth cannot be destroyed at all really. It can change and will always bounce back in whatever new form. Nuclear destruction in the eyes(all 3 of them) of humans is little more than a pin prick to the planet which will re-evolve into a different and strong planet. Its only desroyed in the context of what WE think is bad relative to our values.
Beyond our control
The time for this discussion is now past. S.A’ s population alone has exploded by 32% in the last 16 years. Adele’ s intelligent, caring and well-educated young offspring may even become involved in efforts to diminish the effects of the impending disaster. But nature will, as always, find its own harsh and demoralising solution to our stupidity.
Overcrowded
Try one child per family.
Joy of children
You people who choose not to have children,that is fine, it is after all your choice, but please don' t come and judge those who have children. You cannot know the pleasure derived from something that you don' t have. Children are a joy, and why should we be judged for creating life? You people are sad and sef-absorbed.
To breed or not to breed
I have two adult sons. Now everyone is saying don' t I miss having grandchildren because they and their partners have decided not to have children. Howcan I miss something I never had? On the contrary, I am pleased that they have decided to not bring more children into this overpopulated world. And no, they are not sad or self-absorbed and they/and me do not judge those who have decided to have children.
to breed or not to breed
we have a baby girl. Ony one. The buck stops here. If people would stop producing children. Drive around a location or almost any rural town. Thousands upon thousands of children. What are they going to do when they grow up. Some may find work most turning to crime. Start sterilising people after their first child. Stop giving child grants to parents who use it for alcohol. Start teaching responsibilities to masses while they are still young.. Do it now. We have to stop breeding NOW.
The word breed is in poor taste
I am 37 and I dont have kids but will never be this arrogant as to force my opinion onto other people. Each to its own. I made the choice to not have kids but will never express it since many people don’ t have that choice and would love to have kids and some have kids and they very happy with the choice they made. We all think we know it all and yes we need to look at over populating but I can promise you that there will be repercussions years from now because this generation did not have kid.
Re The joy of children
To Mr/s Anonymous, Get some guts and put a name. The double standards are amazing. You ask for the non-breeders not to judge you for having kids, and then you promptly go on to JUDGE them as sad and self absorbed. And how could you possibly know that they do not know the joy of having kids, even if not their own?
Childless by choice
As a childless adult I do not judge people who chooses to procreate. Who I do judge are those parents who have kids and then cant control or discipline them No I am sorry having kids is a decision that should be taken lightly. Whether you are having kids just to keep the generation going or whatever reason. My main point is that if your kids are being a menace to society then I will blame/judge you for having them.
I agree
I agree with " To breed or not to breed" (1st post). We are 3 adult children and all of us opted for not having children. We had the best childhood any child could wish for. We were brought up to respect others and well educated in difficult times. We dont feel selfish in any way for not having kids. Our parents feel the same. It does however break my heart when I see how friends struggle with their children. I am sure children can be a joy, but I will never regret not having them.
The future
We don' t need to create millions or billions more people to ensure the future of the human race. With all the technological advances that are already available and are in the process of being developed, it' s amazing with how few people the world can actually exist. Come to think of it, the world will still exist without us. So if you want to have kids, don' t do it for the future or the species, do it because it' s what YOU really want. And be a good parent, for all our sakes.
Worlds Pyramid Scheme as Germany
" Breeders" and " non-breeders" need each other whether they like it or not. After all the world population works like a Pyramid scheme. And more the older ones needs the younger ones input to survive, else you would have negative population growth with no one to pick up the worker reigns. So you would end up with a shrinking economy like Germany because there is not enough youth to fill the coffers and The Old cannot do the work. Sound Family planning is everyone' s choice but " Breed" wisely
Look at China!
Now that is a nation who can tackle a problem, cruel but effective (it had some problems) but you have to start somewhere.
In the west you don' t get any benefits if you are childless.. not tax, not extra leave nothing. This economy as we know it is man made the young supporting to old. This has to change. We have new challenges in the world how to survive if the earth can' t support us. (Then not to even mention al this artificial pregnancies all the money and al the twins… .)
Who Cares about nature.
I live, I consume, I create and I die. Whether or not the world will survive is not my concern, I fulfill my purpose as the world fulfills it' s own. If we do not evolve past this world we will eventually die with it. The only difference in us looking after the planet or not is the timeframe.
Live your life as best you can, make the choices that are right for you. That is the only thing we actually have control over - our own happiness. All I ask is that you not deny me my happiness.
Babies
You must really hate your mother for having you and having populated the earth more than was necessary. You are miserable and alone and that is how you will die, leaving nthing but memories of an unhappy lonely human bieng. Funny how the mom in red looks way less stressed and gorgeous than the child hater.....
Don' t if you can' t provide for them
If you can not afford it, dont have children. You place a burden on the feeders to provide for the breeders (child support grant). Unfortunitly in SA we have so many breeders - they now claim to be poor and that it is OK to steel, but will never admit that having children (which they can' t afford) adds to their poverty! Or are they just stupid??
Breed by all means
Breed if you want to breed, your choice, but have that 1 kid or if seriously needed that 2nd one but DON' T have those extra mouths if you can' t even feed yourself, the kids suffer and those that witness it. Have those bundles of joy but make sure they stay that and not a bundle of burden. They change your life so adapt to them, make sure their lives change so it helps the future!
what is your reason for having kids
The main reason that human beings have kids are for the Survival of the Species. Since there are over 6 billion of us that is no longer required. I do believe that the survival of the species depends on us consuming less. Wanna make a real difference, adopt a child, you will probably cut down on that big probability on that kid becoming a menace to society due to lack of parental guidance, and making the streets safer for yourself. Now there' s a selfish reason that works for all )
Natural selection
Olivia.. thank you for doing us all a favour. Knowing that your self-righteous paternalism won' t be carried over in your DNA makes me all warm inside. As PJ O' Rourke says, population control and its bastard offspring, family planning, is the new racism. You wouldn' t mind if everyone born came out looking amd sounding like you (God forbid!) would you?
Parenting, the most difficult job in the world
I just wish that people would realise that the acts of conceiving and then giving birth do not automatically make you a parent. And not all parents are necessarily selfless human beings. On the contrary... As for Frank de Sales... wow. I can only hope that your kids don' t inherit your blatant lack of reasoning! To cite that quote by PJ O' Rourke in THIS day and age is downright irresponsible. Unless of course you plan to adopt all those uncared for kids out there?
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