Something to think about

Right now it's "cool" to talk about overpopulation and restricting family size due to the burden on the community. What people forget about is the upside down pyramid. We learned about this in college. When the aging population (such as we have now) is greater in number than the younger generation which will be the income producers and tax payers of the future, we get the reverse pyramid and we are literally balancing on the tip. The burden is great for the future generation and it is short-sighted to assume that limiting the number of children we produce will solve problems.

Richard Eyre said,

As hard as it is for America to pay its bills today, forecasters will tell us that our current woes are nothing compared to what we will face in a decade or so when our biggest entitlement programs—Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid—are scheduled to go broke.

And the root problem is demographics. As people live to be older and older, and as families have fewer and fewer children we end up with a huge aging population and a woefully small workforce to support them. The old model of lots of young workers at the base of the population pyramid supporting the small peak of elderly people at the top has been inverted and now stands precariously on the tiny pointed base of less children/workers and a wide top of more retired/oldsters. The whole theory of entitlements and generational responsibility goes topsy turvy. (Click on the post title to read the full article)

In China, population is limited by law. In Japan, they have seen the negative effects of the declining population and they now give money to families who have more children to encourage the economic benefits of the next generation of workers. European countries also value their children and support childbearing women with extensive paid leave and reimbursement for their roles as mothers.

We need to look beyond today and beyond our own sometimes selfish desires to have more stuff, spoil our children with more stuff, and consider the greater good of the community. Get off the bandwagon that having a large family is a burden, when some of those large families are paying the social security and Medicare benefits for those who chose to have no children (currently 2/3 of American families have no children in them). It doesn't take a mathematician to see these demographic problems.

Now, lest someone be offended and think I am telling them they should have children they don't desire or can't care for - make no mistake, that is not my intent. But I do feel that voluntarily reducing family size in favor of material possessions will eventually backfire - materially as well as through the deprivation of the great joy that comes with having children, being part of a family and learning to share, care for one another and extend our love unselfishly, as most parents do. People who choose to have NO children because they can't see the bigger picture or think that their "stuff" will make them happy in the long run, usually regret that decision later. Those who can't have children also typically wish they were so blessed and it is unfortunate for them. It is also unfortunate that abortion has resulted in limited adoption options.

I am so grateful that I was blessed with six living children (and one beyond the veil). The joy I receive from this family, now with 16 grandchildren, is beyond explanation! If you want to see more of my grandchildren, ask me for an invitation to my Grandma Brag Blog :)