It’s all very personality based. I didn’t really care to interact with my siblings that much. |
In what world does 5 teenagers sound fun for anyone, parents or kids? |
So? |
We're talking about Catholics and people who are extremely family-oriented who marry early. They aren't clustering the kids because they waited too long to have kids. They are clustering them because they are trying to fit in 5-10 kids before the age of 35. If you believe you have some kind of divine dictate to have as many kids as possible, then even if you get married right out of college, you need to start cranking out a kid every other year. Especially because the people who think like this also often buy into a lot of myths about female fertility (some of them are terrified about "having" to have kids over the age of 35, and are shocked by people like me who have all their kids past 35). They think older moms are gross and that their kids all have genetic disorders. Which is why people like Tim Carney and his wife magically stop having children (meaning, discover birth control for the first time) in they mid-30s. But they think it's immoral for a 20-something woman to use BC to avoid having children until her 30s because she wants to focus on career or doesn't personally feel ready to be a mom. It's an entire lifestyle centered on biblical dictates and has little or nothing to do with doing what is best for kids or mothers. It's about religion and politics, not people. |
This is so weirdly backward. People don't have kids because religion says so. Religion says to have kids because there are no children of people who don't have kids. |
I'm sure some of them do. My 13-year old views my 5-year old as little more than a talking armchair. Nothing in common at all. |
A good friend of mine had three kids, all of them six years apart. So, the kids have little interaction (at least the oldest and the youngest really don't) but the parents don't seem unduly stressed by having three. You trade "always having a playmate" for the kids for parental sanity. |
I mean, I know this is an anonymous forum, but aren’t you embarrassed to delve into a theology and a culture that you clearly know NOTHING about? |
I skimmed some pages on this thread and see people claim that 4+ kids = necessary neglect.
What does that mean? You can easily have 4+ kids who are fed, clothed, bathed, literate, social, up to date on vaccines, etc. Are we talking about “emotional neglect”? I also see lots of people saying the oldest kid “raises” the youngest, but not any description of what that means. Making meals? Laundry? School pickup? Registering younger siblings for sports/camps? Managing younger sibling’s healthcare appointments? It’s gotta be more than just playing with younger siblings, right? If my older kid plays with her younger sibling, that’s not “parenting.” Just like nannies/babysitters aren’t “raising” our kids. |
I was raised Catholic. Confirmed and everything. Most of my family is still Catholic. One of 7 here. Go ahead and try to challenge my bona fides. |
Why does WaPo publish trash like this?
Next, they’ll have some crap that women are happier when they lose health care. |
Some people absolutely have kids because religion says so. Are you not familiar with the Quiverfull movement? Some people take "go forth and multiply" literally. |
None of what you wrote relates to Catholicism. |
Religion tells them they can’t use birth control or get an abortion so they do force pregnancy on woman. |
The idea number of kids is the number of kids you want to have.
I make zero life decisions based on Wash Post opinion pieces. |