How many kids is too many?

[Cyndalie]

So this lady that just had octoplets already has 6 children. She is a single mom living with her parents, her Father is a contractor in Iraq and makes a decent living, but not nearly enough to support 14 grandchildren in a 3 bedroom house! She supposively had IVF and was implanted with 8 fertilized eggs, all of which survivied. She is insane and her DR should lose his license.'
But I digress.


How many is too many kids? More than you can afford? Do people still plan to have large families? I don't know anyone in my age group (X) that plans on having more than 2 if any at all. Younger people I know want 3-4.

I think I'd have to stop at 4. Any more than that and you're just overpopulating the planet, I don't care how many marriages you have been through or whatever...

[Evil Chris]

I think that if you can support a whole bunch, and you want to do it, then do it.

Kids aren't for everyone, I can understand that.
Growing up, I knew a couple of families that had 6+ children and it seems normal.
That kind of thing now is the exception.

[LAJ]

Personally in this day and age most families should stop at one or two.

[12ClicksMichele]

If you can support them then go for it. Look at the Dugger family. They are up to 18 kids, support themselves and somehow have managed to not have any debt at all.

There are some things about this woman's situation that really doesn't make sense to me. I am assuming that her first 6 were not or not all concieved with help, that a majority of them had to be natural conceptions. How long was she attempting to get pregnant before turning to IVF and why were so many viable embryo's implanted? Something just seems off about the whole situation.

[LAJ]

I honestly think it goes way beyond whether you can support the kids or not. It's also about responsibility.

The world population is getting out of control. It's no coincidence that the countries with the fewest problems in the world are ones with zero population growth or close to it. And consequently the most fucked countries are ones where their population seems to double every 25 or 50 years.

Large families for the most part create a drain on society.

[DrChango]

large families are a hold over from a time when A) people needed many children to help run farms, ranches, etc and B) when many of those children could be expected to die before they reached adulthood. Now that is not the case, and that is where you get loads of problems in Third World countries.

[Panky]

Why in the hell if the woman already has 6 children would she be undergoing fertility treatments to potentially conceive more children at this stage in her life? How about she get her shit together and then decide if more children are in her future or not.


If people decide to have a large family, it's not for me to say they can't. Some people are meant to be parents to a large number of children and that is cool. It's a matter of whether or not the family unit and the parents themselves are strong enough mentally, physically, and financially to take care for the children they do have before they begin to add on to the family.

[Rochard]

I disagree with Panky. I have one kid and I see the amount of time, effort, support, and finances that goes into it. We are friends with a couple that have three kids and they are pulling their hair out - They are constantly running their kids from one event to another. Once a week they'll call me up to ask if one of their kids is with me because they have no idea where their youngest child is. With both of them working full time it's become difficult to keep track of where the kids are, no less making the time to spend with them.

This woman..... Is a nutcase. She's single and all of the other kids have different fathers. She just went through a bankruptcy last year and lives with her mother. When you have some sixteen kids you need a large house, and Grandma's house isn't going to cut it. What are they going to do? Live four or five to a room? That's no way to raise a kid. Not to mention there are seven fathers out there that are most likely getting soaked for child support.

[Panky]

Originally Posted by Rochard

I disagree with Panky. I have one kid and I see the amount of time, effort, support, and finances that goes into it. We are friends with a couple that have three kids and they are pulling their hair out - They are constantly running their kids from one event to another. Once a week they'll call me up to ask if one of their kids is with me because they have no idea where their youngest child is. With both of them working full time it's become difficult to keep track of where the kids are, no less making the time to spend with them.

And as I said, "It's a matter of whether or not the family unit and the parents themselves are strong enough mentally, physically, and financially to care for the children they do have before they begin to add on to the family. "

If a couple is pulling their hair out trying to raise 3 kids, then it wouldn't be the smartest thing to do to try and bring one or more other children into the world at this stage in their life.

[LizAEBN]

I'm happily childfree - I never was much for children, even when I was one - but I am adamantly pro-choice.

To me, that simply means choice over all reproductive options - and if the woman/ family has the resources to care for the family s/he chooses, more power to them. Clearly, it's not always applied in the world in which we live - octuplet IVF woman being a case in point - but it is entirely possible to have a large family and support it lovingly without draining the resources of others (the Duggers were mentioned, the Gosselins from Jon and Kate + 8 , several bloggers I follow, and a former co-worker all seem to do remarkably well with 6+).

There are very few people I know in my "real" life that choose to have kids at all so I look at larger families as having my kids for me ;P

[lulu]

always a controversial topic. who's to say what breeders should do or when they should stop. her MD should lose his license. Being an adoptee myself it always bothers me that so many kids out there were not wanted and or are mistreated. They need loving parents. why make more in an overpopulated world?

[MoreFlesh]

2 would be my max. one of each

[NicAngel]

she's clearly got some screws loose

[dyonisus]

I am in the same area of thinking as LAJ. I mean really it is not about whether you can afford to properly take care fo the children, but also about responsibility to he environment and the world.

Examine the stats, population growth and people with more children tend to be those who have less means to support those children, and there are many unwanted children born everyday. It is supposed to be a human right, but as humans most of us are not responsible enough to respet the fact that with having children comes a HUGE personal and financial responsibility.

People like this woman should have their right to have children revoked. It is not fiscally or morally responsible for her to have this many children and rely on media hounds and film rights and our taxes to take on the burden of paying to educate and feed these kids. I certainly do not feel it is my responsibility.

Most times what I notice is that the people having kids are the ones least likely to be successful at it. More babies are born to crack and meth moms, born already addicted, more children are born by accidental insemination, then through planned parenthood and quite frankly how large does world population have to grow before someone decides that it is time to govern births like in Gattaca?

Its a shame our egos dont let us see the reality of over population. Maybe we should all watch idiocracy.

[Funbrunette]

I think she's looking for fame (just my opinion) I saw her on Dateline NBC last night and she's got MAJOR issues! Someone PLEASE stop this woman!

[Cyndalie]

Originally Posted by dyonisus

Maybe we should all watch idiocracy.

Or Wall-E