"OUTLINE THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF HAVING CHILDREN"
It is only comparatively recently that married couples have been in a position to decide whether or not they want to have children. This freedom of choice has been made possible by the widespread availability of effective contraception, at least in developed countries. Indeed, in the case of the latter, there has been an increasing tendency for couples to decide against having children altogether or postpone starting a family, with the result that birth rates have been falling. What are the arguments that couples consider when taking such an important and difficult decision?
(1)Children are a blessing and no marriage is complete without them. (2)Children can provide security in old age. (3)When parents get old and are no longer able to take care of themselves or if they find themselves experiencing financial hardship, their grown-up children are in a position to provide some support. (4)Children can provide companionship to parents, not only in old age when one of the parents may be left alone but also when they are still growing up. (5)A father may enjoy companionship with his son in the pursuit of pleasures or hobbies which may not interest his wife, such as making model aeroplanes, playing football or hunting. (6)Having children gives pleasure in creating and raising life. (7)Parents are rewarded by seeing some of their own characteristics inherited by their children. (8)The love parents naturally feel for their offspring is reciprocated and a bond of love is formed. (9)(10)Having children helps to strengthen a marriage, particularly in the case of one which is experiencing difficulties. (11)The partners in the marriage are drawn closer together by the need to care for their children, who, after all, belong to them both. (12)(13)Having children prevents couples becoming too selfish and wrapped up in each other. Anybody who has children knows that they are time-consuming and very demanding of attention. This can be a positive advantage in preventing a marriage from becoming too self-centred and therefore stale. (14)A new dimension is added to the rather limited relationship of husband and wife.
(15)Children may not turn out to be the blessing they are claimed to be. There are several important factors which must be taken into consideration before deciding to accept the responsibility of parenthood. (16)There is the undeniable fact that children are expensive. (17)They require new clothes and shoes at regular intervals; they are destructive of property; they demand costly toys which they then proceed to break. (18)If parents want to do the best for their children, they must be prepared to foot the bill for increasingly expensive private education and medical care. (19)There is the risk element of having children which many a parent has lived to regret, and that is the possibility that a child may turn out "badly". (20)He or she may take drugs, turn to crime, or have a illegitimate baby. (21)After years of sacrifice, parents are inevitably saddened and disappointed by the results of their efforts. (22)Having children is time-consuming. They demand the full attention of both parents, particularly when young, leaving both husband and wife with no spare time whatsoever. A hobby or sport which may have been an all consuming passion before children arrived, has to be neglected. (23)Visits to the cinema or any sort of social life involve negotiations with baby-sitters and much forward planning. Such inconveniences inevitably result in couples ceasing to go out at all. (24)Having children is difficult to combine with having a career. (25)If only the husband works, there is still the problem that a demanding and successful career usually involves travelling, late-night working and entertaining, activities incompatible with the role of bringing up children. (26)The wife is left to look after the children single-handed, which means that she becomes more tense and exhausted. (27)If both parents are trying to pursue successful careers, then the difficulties multiply. (28)The couple have to resort to employing people to look after their children with the result that they grow up without really knowing their parents. (29)Hiring competent professional help is becoming increasingly difficult and expensive. (30)It is not an acceptable arrangement.
(31)(32)Having children may turn out to be a curse rather than the blessing that so many misguided people claim they are. Unless couples are prepared for their freedom to be curtailed and their whole lives sacrificed to bringing up creatures who will later abandon their parents to make their own lives, it is better to leave the unenviable task of having children to the people who think it worthwhile.
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