Do babies "Choose" to be born to a certain mother/family?

[Anonymous]

I've seen something to this effect a few times lately.

One was on a facebook, a former high school classmate of mine said something to the effect of "We are happy to announce that Suzie chose us as parents! Born 8 lbs 7 oz...etc"
At first I thought maybe they were adopting a baby, and "Suzie was the birth mother and chose my classmate to adopt the baby...but then subsequent posts showed that "suzie" was their new baby (and it was classmate's wife that had given birth).

Then today, I was looking at someone else's picture of their (grade school age) child with something like "Happy Birthday Jamie! I'm so happy you chose to be my little pumpkin" (actual cutesy nickname changed, to protect identity!)

Do certain religions believe that babies "choose" to be born to a certain family? Fwiw, the former classmate of mine WAS Quaker in high school, not sure if he still is...and the one with the "little pumpkin"-I have no idea what (if any) religious beliefs she has.

[Anonymous]

I don't think this is a religious belief. It's just a homespun way of looking at parenting. It's sweet and personal to the parent/child relationship.

I have a special needs child and I can also tell you that I hear a lot that "God chose me" to be a parent to my SN child, but I don't really believe that either.

[Anonymous]

As someone suffering from years of IF I find offensive, like I am not worthy to be chosen???? Ask anyone I know, they will tell you I am worthy of being chosen to be a mother. Do kids choose drug addicted and abusive mothers? It cuts both ways.

[Anonymous]

We sometimes say things that help us deal.

Like: "When God closes a door, he opens a window." Whatever.

It's a ridiculous statement when you figure most kids would choose to be born into wealthy families but they don't! Instead, most kids choose to be born into poor families in Africa or Asia and even if they do choose the good old USA, they often select the single mom.

[Anonymous]

I think it's dangerous fluffy hogwash. It's nice when you have a good family, but do children of abusers, molesters, etc choose their families? Does that impart culpability on behalf of those kids for choosing their own circumstances?

We tell ourselves a lot of fluffy stuff to ease through life - but a lot of it is basically a form of self fulfilling prophesy I think - we tell ourselves what we want to hear - not what reality is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As someone suffering from years of IF I find offensive, like I am not worthy to be chosen???? Ask anyone I know, they will tell you I am worthy of being chosen to be a mother. Do kids choose drug addicted and abusive mothers? It cuts both ways.

Of course you are worthy. People are just idiots and I've learned they don't think before they speak.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've seen something to this effect a few times lately.

One was on a facebook, a former high school classmate of mine said something to the effect of "We are happy to announce that Suzie chose us as parents! Born 8 lbs 7 oz...etc"
At first I thought maybe they were adopting a baby, and "Suzie was the birth mother and chose my classmate to adopt the baby...but then subsequent posts showed that "suzie" was their new baby (and it was classmate's wife that had given birth).

Then today, I was looking at someone else's picture of their (grade school age) child with something like "Happy Birthday Jamie! I'm so happy you chose to be my little pumpkin" (actual cutesy nickname changed, to protect identity!)

Do certain religions believe that babies "choose" to be born to a certain family? Fwiw, the former classmate of mine WAS Quaker in high school, not sure if he still is...and the one with the "little pumpkin"-I have no idea what (if any) religious beliefs she has.

Oh, brother. The kid is going to be a spoiled brat.

[Anonymous]

Your friend on Facebook sounds stupid. She probably also refers to her husband as "hubbie" and thinks it's so adorable when he changes a diaper once every 6 months.

[Anonymous]

Tibetan Buddhists believe this (although his is an extremely simplistic way of looking at it).

[Anonymous]

I most definitely did not choose my parents.

[Anonymous]

I've heard of this before. The idea is that prior to birth, we were all with the holy Father in heaven. We "chose" our parents. We were aware of the hardships or poverty and accepted it as a challenge and as a way of honoring God (harder for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get into heaven - you may recognize that from the bible). As for the people who can not conceive - It's not that no baby is choosing them, it's that they are not an option to be chosen, for whatever reason. Nothing to do with them not being a good parent.

I'm not saying I believe this, or that everyone who says their baby chose them believes this, but I know that some people do. I heard this on Oprah years ago - a show on people with death/afterlife experiences.

[Anonymous]

Damn, I made a huge mistake when I chose my parents .

[Anonymous]

I certainly would not have chosen my parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I certainly would not have chosen my parents.[/quot


my parents were fine. good looking, healthy, fun loving, clever.

coulda been richer.

[Anonymous]

I sort of believed this u tili realized I cohldn't have a baby due to unexplained infertility. Believing made me feel really worthless...like no child could stand the thought of me being their mother. Now I'm not sure what I believe.