UncleLou wrote:Ok there's a few of them. But in general how many tall pensioners do you see walking about. You'll be dead soon enough. |
Not having children in 2017 (and beyond) • Page 6
-
Decks 31,013 posts
Seen 7 hours ago
Registered 6 years ago -
@ZuluHero It's all those old and low door frames, I bloody knew it. -
Decks 31,013 posts
Seen 7 hours ago
Registered 6 years agoSee. Better start making arrangements for your giant coffin you mutant. -
Singularity 3,282 posts
Seen 1 day ago
Registered 18 years ago@UncleLou
Yep, it sucks. I think it's all the extra work our hearts have to do to pump the blood around our gigantic, hunky bodies.
Edited by Singularity at 14:38:24 02-11-2017 -
Singularity 3,282 posts
Seen 1 day ago
Registered 18 years ago@Huggybear It was more of a Brexit/Trump/global warming punchline than anything. I thought the Mad Max reference would give that away. 
-
DaM 17,729 posts
Seen 6 hours ago
Registered 20 years agoExcellent, that's the pay off for standing/sitting in front of short people at gigs, cinema etc, ruining their view with your ridiculous oversized bodies. What goes around, comes around etc.
Back on track, I often think 3 labradors would be a lot easier. They always eat whatever food you give them, they are happy enough to chase a ball around the park without pleading for an ice cream and are able to follow simple commands. -
Rhaegyr 5,499 posts
Seen 2 weeks ago
Registered 10 years agoFuzzyDucky wrote:
Fucking hell.
Huggybear wrote:
And yet it's only in the last 70 that we have things like nuclear warheads attached to ICBMs, understand how we're fucked by the rate at which bacteria mutates and becomes antibiotic resistant. The bees don't look too hot these days either. Global Warming says "hai".
Singularity wrote:
People have been saying the end is nigh regularly for the last two thousand years or more. Fact is, if you live in Western Europe like most of us here do, life is safer and more comfortable than it's probably ever been anywhere.
Then the world went to shit and I'm glad that any child of mine won't have to live in Mad Max world.
Obviously climate change and running out of antibiotics may change all that, but it's a weird argument in the first place. You're saving someone from potential suffering by making sure they never get to live in the first place?
And even in our comparative utopia, look at how the economic crash affected us. And even if the bombs don't land directly on our heads, kiss goodbye to all those food imports. Let's see who well the average western European gets on when they have to produce their own food and stop Junior dying from malnutrition.
Push comes to shove, this isn't sustainable and shit is going to hit the fan sooner or later.
Why even bother at all? -
Singularity 3,282 posts
Seen 1 day ago
Registered 18 years agoGood point. Let's all go home. -
To be honest, those concerns about the future, while valid, wouldn't put me off having kids. They'd certainly be things to worry about once you had kids though.
I personally think mankind is sort of peaking with our generation, in the "west" at least, in terms of wealth, safety and standards of living. It all started going downhill once they retired the Concorde, I tell ya! -
Rhaegyr 5,499 posts
Seen 2 weeks ago
Registered 10 years agoI'd be quite saddened if this was our peak.
Really wanted to get to the age of portal guns, aliens and alcoholic robots. -
Well, Trump and Brexit will make sure there won't be any aliens going forward. -
Decks 31,013 posts
Seen 7 hours ago
Registered 6 years agoWe're all going to turn into beige, genderless, hairless, shut-ins in a few generations time. -
Huggybear 1,807 posts
Seen 4 weeks ago
Registered 19 years agoSYS64738 wrote:
That's because they're mostly excuses. It's much easier to say "I don't want to bring children into this evil world. That makes me a good person" than "I'm scared of having children. I don't know if I have it in me to be a good parent".
To be honest, those concerns about the future, while valid, wouldn't put me off having kids. They'd certainly be things to worry about once you had kids though.
Another thing is procrastinating until you're "ready", and have a degree, a house and a career. Then you realise you're 40, and not only is it a lot harder to conceive and riskier to give birth, but also much harder to adjust to your new life as a parent.
Still, it's an interesting discussion, and a decision people didn't really need to make until fairly recently.
The question remains though: if you don't have children, who do you expect will take care of you when you're too old to take care of yourself, and pay for your benefits and pension? The "there are already enough people in the world" argument isn't the answer because most of those people are somewhere far away, and by and large don't have the skills / education needed over here. -
Having kids so you have "somebody to look after you" is one of the most selfish things I can think of.
And I find the notion that I'm scared of parenthood insulting to be honest. I just don't want kids. -
drhickman1983 wrote:
It's the generational contract, though. And I don't really mean on a personal level, but in the society.
Having kids so you have "somebody to look after you" is one of the most selfish things I can think of.
Edited by UncleLou at 15:31:43 02-11-2017 -
shamblemonkee 17,967 posts
Seen 4 days ago
Registered 17 years ago
-
UncleLou wrote:
Not really a contract though, it's more like coercion.
drhickman1983 wrote:
It's the generational contract, though. And I don't really mean on a personal level, but in the society.
Having kids so you have "somebody to look after you" is one of the most selfish things I can think of.
-
drhickman1983 wrote:
It never worked without it - in earlier times and in other societies today on a more personal level, in our time on a general level.
UncleLou wrote:
Not really a contract though, it's more like coercion.
drhickman1983 wrote:
It's the generational contract, though. And I don't really mean on a personal level, but in the society.
Having kids so you have "somebody to look after you" is one of the most selfish things I can think of.
If everybody decided not to have any kids all of a sudden, we'd have a huge fucking problem in a few decades. So, I don't think that idea is particularly selfish. It's completely natural. -
glo 3,797 posts
Seen 4 hours ago
Registered 19 years agoI'm 48 and been with my partner for 23 years. Neither was ever that keen on the idea of kids and don't regret not having any so far, and it's pretty unlikely to happen at this point. I have wondered if I'll regret not having kids a few times but always but then I spend a few days with my nephews and I'm fine again. .gif)
If I'm being honest, I didn't much like other children when I was a child and my views haven't changed much since becoming an adult.
We do have have two dogs though which I guess are like easy mode versions of children. -
Huggybear 1,807 posts
Seen 4 weeks ago
Registered 19 years agoUncleLou wrote:
This.
drhickman1983 wrote:
It's the generational contract, though. And I don't really mean on a personal level, but in the society.
Having kids so you have "somebody to look after you" is one of the most selfish things I can think of.
-
Huggybear wrote:
Yeah, exactly my point.
That's because they're mostly excuses. It's much easier to say "I don't want to bring children into this evil world. That makes me a good person" than "I'm scared of having children. I don't know if I have it in me to be a good parent".
Another thing is procrastinating until you're "ready", and have a degree, a house and a career. Then you realise you're 40, and not only is it a lot harder to conceive and riskier to give birth, but also much harder to adjust to your new life as a parent.
Indeed this is roughly where we are. But rather than not being ready for parenthood from a wealth/standard of living perspective, we weren't settled enough - moved countries several times, wanted to do certain things first (career, travel, whatever). Basically there was always stuff with a higher priority, which in itself is quite telling, really.
Still, it's an interesting discussion, and a decision people didn't really need to make until fairly recently.
Fair point, but as others have said, if that's the only reason to have a child, that's a lot more selfish I would say - also who's to say the child will become a good tax paying citizen? Or live long enough to support the parents? Or is willing to? Or would want to work in the healthcare sector?
The question remains though: if you don't have children, who do you expect will take care of you when you're too old to take care of yourself, and pay for your benefits and pension? The "there are already enough people in the world" argument isn't the answer because most of those people are somewhere far away, and by and large don't have the skills / education needed over here.
As for pension payments - we're spending a not insignificant amount of cash each month for our retirement (anyone's guess whether it's worth it but better than doing nothing). And by the time we're old, I'm sure the Japanese have developed caretaker robots anyways as their society is probably going to implode first due to lack of children in the pipeline. -
TheSaint 20,950 posts
Seen 4 days ago
Registered 16 years agoMy other half and I don't have children or pets. That must really make us selfish and/or scared of responsibility. -
SYS64738 wrote:
I don't think anyone said that's the only reason, but if we must speak in selfinshness categories, surely it is much more selfish of people with no kids relying on *other* people's kids to keep the society going? Health care robots or not, unless you live the life of a self-sufficent farmer until the day you die, you depend on people having kids.
Fair point, but as others have said, if that's the only reason to have a child, that's a lot more selfish I would say -.
FWIW, I think everyone should do what he thinks is best, I just stumbled a bit about the "selfish" commentary of drhickman1983.
Edited by UncleLou at 15:53:46 02-11-2017 -
@UncleLou I assume he (I certainly did) referred to expecting your *own* kids to look after you once you're older, not so much other people's kids. But yes point taken on the latter.
.gif)
Sometimes posts may contain links to online retail stores. If you click on one and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. For more information, go here.
