The Downside to Parenting, and Why Some People Are Better Off Childless
Children. They’re the gift that keeps on giving. They have the ability to bring happiness and joy to a family, but there are certain questions you need to ask yourself before taking such a big step to becoming a father. There are many repercussions and responsibilities that come along with parenthood, some of which don’t directly affect the family; others have a more obvious impact. These 5 reasons should be taken into consideration when asking yourself whether you should take on the role of a parent.
1. They’re Killing the Planet
It might sound a bit dramatic, but there’s truth behind this. As the human population increases, people consume more resources. Whether it’s food, energy, or water, more people results in more consumption. The 7 billion people already on the planet are using a vast amount of resources while reserves of essential energy deposits are depleting. Why is this a bad thing? Well, overpopulation can lead to water, food and resource shortages, damage to the environment (think ozone depletion and global warming), overharvesting of animals (which leads to species extinction), and higher possibilities of disease outbreaks. While it’s difficult to see the immediate risks of having children, considering the negative consequences of population growth and the effects that it could have on younger generations might make you second guess your decision.
2. They’re Expensive
You’ve heard this one before. Between diapers, formula, clothes, food, furniture, and hospital costs, children can be very expensive. And then there are college funds, cars, and more food to worry about as children grow into teenagers. A recent report by the USDA (apparently child expenses fall under the same scope as agriculture) states that it costs average-earning Americans $234,000 to raise a child for 17 years, with housing, education, and food being the highest expenses. This number varies by state, of course, with the most expensive states being in the urban northeast. As noted, this number is the average cost, but the price can vary greatly depending on income level with the report stating:
“A family earning less than $59,410 per year can expect to spend a total of $169,080 (in 2011 dollars) on ...
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This article overgeneralizes by saying a child born anywhere in this world is a danger to planet.
It is entirely ok to have a child if the country you reside in has the resources to provide for that child and it isn’t overpopulated. I live in Australia and we have an extremely low density population in our country and an immigration policy (not perfect by any means) that encourages further population growth. If I don’t have a child in my country of 20 million people spread over an entire continent, it isn’t a drop in the ocean compared to the high density, fast increasing populations found elsewhere.
Each country must provide for it’s citizens and have policies that plan for the sustainability of their populations. What is true for some countries is not true for others.
I agree with you..especially when couple are infertile and Irresponsible towards life.
When they are Interested in working n making money, so that they can give money to their parents to build house above the house ignoring their spouse..
Else in all normal conditions.. Children bring happiness with or without parenting problems.
I have five daughters. I live in Texas. There is a lot of land here, there is water, there are fish, there are deer, there is grain. God has always always provided for my family, whether that makes sense to you or not, I give Him thanks. Hard work. Yep. Two hands, two legs – men and women were made to provide to the best of their ability and God gives the increase. This country needs more big families. Sure there is poverty. So what. We also have more opportunity here than, I believe, many other places. Adoption is great and can be tough. Mixed families same thing. I know my share and have experienced much myself. Please don’t discourage the birth of a human being. Every child is life changing, sure. But when you get old…you get to reflect on your choices. Make good choices starting now and ask the Lord for help even if you have never done it before…He wants you to trust Him. Just know things may not always be in our timing, but the Lord provides for our needs, not just our wants. Be encouraged. Have a great day.
“Sure there is poverty. So what.” What a statement to make!
I did not even bother reading the other rubbish you have written because you have already proven how selfish you are. Your God must be so proud that you keep bringing children into this world. I hope that they are not as self-absorbed as you appear to be.
Did you skip over the fact that we’re destroying the planet? We’re literally crowding off other species, gobbling up all the resources. We’re over-populated and it’s only getting worse, especially when there are so many people with your attitude. Adoption is hard to work through, but if you honestly want a child, you’ll put in what ever effort is necessary.
And that bit about poverty. What the hell? So, your plan is to cause more poverty by having as many kids as possible? You are being insensitive to the problems at hand, and should act in a more responsible manner.
You seem to believe that the only part of the world that matters is the one that you live in. The population density in your tiny corner of the planet might be low. But in some places, it is staggeringly high. You have plenty of water, but in some places there is none. And most of those places used to be like the place you currently live in. If your kids each have 5 kids and so on, do you really think your little corner will remain so pristine?
I raised 7 children. My thoughts are simply that good people do not have enough children.
I am thankful for the lady in Texas who is raising those five daughters. She is not, as the hateful types above love to spew, selfish and ‘destroying the planet’. We have 12. Yep, we’re breeders and adopters. And we live in a place that would normally only house two to three children plus parents. And it is a farm, so our milk, meat, eggs, and many of our vegetables leave no carbon footprint whatsoever (nor do we support the agro-giants who are indeed doing their part to destroy the planet). This is for all you greenies out there who would rather live to their own glory and keep themselves at the center of their universe than give the time and energy to raising offspring who will make this world a better place. You people deserve yourselves but thankfully are selfish enough that you don’t reproduce much. Yikes.
On letting people believe what they want, why should my atheist self have to put up with several people telling me that GOD has a plan for the earth and everyone on it. If I believe this to be false I have just as much right to voice my atheist thought as they have to counter with their religious one. It seems that religious freedom only applies to those who choose to have a religion.
Believe what you want, but don’t tell me or anyone else how to voice their opinions, and what to voice them on.
Most of this article is true, although it simplifies some very complex ideas.
If the Lord has a plan for all the idiots that are currently populating His earth, I wish s/he would just hurry up and let the world know what it is, because frankly there are quite a number of his people wandering around that really should have been either aborted or prevented in the first place. I wish more educated atheists would hook up and have babies though, cause those babies would be of use.
Been around the world and found that only stupid people are breeding…
So, your parents were stupid then?
Normally I don’t comment on articles I read on the Internet, but this has been on my mind recently and I had to reply to it.
The author of this article cites overpopulation as a reason to not have children. This is taking a majorly complex problem and oversimplifying it to add a geopolitical reason behind the argument to not have children.
Since this article is on the Internet, it’s safe to assume the people reading it will be from places like the United States, Europe, Japan, etc. The problem is these are not the countries contributing to overpopulation. In fact, studies have shown that the population in Japan is shrinking and the numbers of Europeans and American Caucasians are shrinking. The reason the country populations overall are growing is because of immigrant movements into the United States and Europe — and many of those immigrants are having fewer children as well. People in these countries are certainly contributing to more resource depletion than in other countries because of our society and economy, but they are not having more children. The average couple in the United States is having either 2 or 3 children. Two children replaces the existing population (two parents, two kids), and three children barely increases it.
The countries with the most out of control population increases are countries like India and places in Africa. These are places where the average woman has as many as eight or nine children — far more than two. In many if not all of these countries, women are far less likely to get a good education and participate in the economy, for reasons like cultural norms, the prostitution industry, religious practices, etc. In many of these countries, women are valued less than men which leads to a). an increase of aborted female fetuses which leads to a population of more males than females which makes a population in general more violent or b). an increase in family size as couples try to have more and more boys in addition to the numbers of girls they’re having.
The exception to this rule is China which, while no longer treating women as substandard citizens to the extent that these other countries are, is currently suffering from the effects of this same problem.
Studies have proven over and over again that women who get a good education and good jobs have fewer children later in life, and those children go on to have good educations and successful careers themselves. In countries where women have access to good education and can get good jobs, the population is under control, the economy does better, and the people are wealthier and happier. The answer to population control is not “Stop Having Babies.” The answer to population control is to promote women’s rights and education throughout the world.
The answer would also be to tell these overpopulating countries to stop doing so? It’s disgusting and it’s got to stop.
But I see from some of the other commentators every sperm is still sacred in the land of the “free”. Tough ask. Your pretend friend wants famines and wars caused because of there being too many people in the world. Some friend.
1. Africa is a continent not a country
2. Majority of people living in US are immigrants (probably yourself included)
3. Where are you getting your facts from? I am from a country in Africa and majority of my friends and family have 2-3 children.
4. Just because this article is on the internet doesn’t mean that the whole continent of Africa can’t read this article. We have internet here too and we are educated!
Thanks,
I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you. I said places in Africa, and I was thinking specifically of many poverty-stricken areas. In many poverty-stricken areas, there are I didn’t mean to imply that no one in Africa reads articles on the Internet.
I also don’t think the answer to population control is to tell anyone in Africa to stop having children, just to promote women’s education — everywhere in the world.
To answer your question, I’m getting most of my facts from economists who do population studies (specifically from Amartya Sen) and from books on women’s education and economic empowerment like Half the Sky.
Bleh, I messed up my own comment. Sorry. I meant to say in a lot of poverty-stricken places all over the world, some of the families have a lot of children. This goes for populations everywhere. And studies have shown that women who are educated generally have fewer children, and those children are educated. I certainly did not intend to imply that no one at all in any specific area of the world is educated.
God will take care of our world including the decisions on how many children each woman will give birth too.Some humans just want to try and control everything and that is so SAD and these same humans should learn more about what God wants.
God will make the decisions on how many children each woman on Earth will give birth to.Why do some humans think they have to control everything? Please step back and let God handle everything.Read your Bible and learn what God wants from you. God will take care of our planet and all his children if we stop trying to do things our way and start doing things his way. May God Bless the Earth.
Keep dreaming Cheryl… The only reason you are able to spout such nonsense is the fact that you’ll be long dead before any of this becomes a truly serious issue. Therefore you can claim with confidence that “God” will sort it out because you won’t be around to be proven wrong. You religious wackos who proselytize this bunk turn a blind eye to the future of our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and far beyond who will be left holding your bag of ignorance and responsibility… But what do you care right? You’ll find that your after life is nothing but maggots chewing on your flesh.
megapril, its non of your damn business what someone else think and believes in, don’t know why atheists keep doing this, so what if she believes in God, its her opinion, u shouldn’t be insulting her for that, if you don’t believe in what she believes, be the mature person that respects her for being different from you, besides you have no idea what will be waiting for you or her when you die, because lets face it.,you haven’t been dead before, so she could be right, or you could
I am from Africa and I am African, this notion of saying African women breed too much here is wrong. Things have changed, people plan in Africa for babies as well. We are not so backwards to bringing babies into the world that we are not ready to keep. Besides children are a gift from God and not animals.
The authorshould think about it, if his parents had the same thought?
I completely agree!!
Adoption is not satanic. Abortion is just legalized killing of innocents. But these “reasons” make having children sound like a disgrace, a killjoy, and ruin your life. No, it’s not good to be a teenage parent—but the “killing the planet” thing is just bullshit. Guess what? We so-called adults are human, too—just like children, and we destroy the planet even more. Expensive? Sure, but isn’t everyone and everything? Life practically comes with a dollar sign these days, nothing is free or easy and is barely cheap. Of course they take time. Lots of things take time. But if you’re too lazy or self-centered that you don’t want to have to “take time” out for anyone, other than yourself or what interests you, then you really should just ensure for yourself that you won’t be pregnant or become a father by keeping them crossed or keeping it in your pants. Quite simple, really.
Yes, they do put a strain on relationships at times. But when you have a child, you must realize that it’s not all about you and the other person, it’s also about the child. Yes, take time for your spouse—but don’t ignore your children. Don’t want to have them? Fine, assure yourself you won’t be having any. And if you do, own up to your responsibilities.
You imply abortion is killing babies as they’re being born. As they’re not developed, they are fetuses. They are not babies at that point. Learn your basic biology, please.
Uneducated people who aren’t given proper sex education and access to contraceptives (which sounds like your upbringing) are far more likely to have kids that they’re either unprepared for or don’t want. People are going to have sex, like it or not, before they’re married. The only way to prevent abortions is, surprise, comprehensive sex education and easy-to-find contraceptives. That way, people can have kids when they want to — on their own time and when they’re financially and mentally ready.
There’s a certain correlation here.
I only have one child I have been married for 11 years. You really have to think about becoming parents. Think about how many. We chose to have one. He was born premature it was very expensive. But being a mom is stressful but also rewarding. Just think how many would be good for your life style.
Wow! I don’t think you need an article to tell you why not to have kids if you don’t want any. But the idea that someone wrote an article to try to convince people, to try to give them reasons to not want children–that’s disturbing.
The first argument–”They’re killing the planet” is perposterous! The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness there of. He put man on this planet for a reason. Man is called to care for the earth and to worship it’s creator, God. God’s command is to be fruitful and replenish the earth. Children are a heritage of the Lord. The earth is damaged when people do not steward it well, but not by the existence of children!
Children are expensive and parents should plan for that. Children do take time and can put a strain on relationships if the time is not managed and the children are not taught properly. On the otherhand, it is a joy to see your child growing and learning the values and principles you’ve taught them, and to enjoy their loving trust in you as their parent. And children can grow up to be great men and women who do amazing things for the planet and mankind. There is nothing wrong with adopting (we’ve got 4 adopted kids), but we love our biological child as much and never regretted any of them.
The greatest men and women of all time were once someone’s kid. It’s ridiculous to promote reasons to not have children. And there is much joy to be had in a close-knit loving family. Children as they grow can contribute to the family’s income, too. They help with chores, recycle, and get odd jobs untilt their old enough to work. How often are elderly people blessed when their children care for them so that they don’t have to go to a nursing home simply because there is no family left to care for them?
I’m all for people being free to choose whether to have a family or not. Certainly there are people who should not do so. However, it would be wrong to discourage people from having a family who want to do so.
Ok, first of all, people need to quit starting things of with, “The Lord Has a Plan. He Put Us On Earth For a Reason.”
He also gave us brains. Using our brains, we can use studies to realize that the current rate things have been going, we’re going to overpopulate and consume more resources, while crowding other animals off the planet. The population has more than tripled since the sixties, and there’s just going to be more of us if someone doesn’t have the forethought to take an effort to keep this from happening. Maybe God does have a plan, and He’s telling us to control ourselves a bit, and stop destroying his green Earth.
yeah… I stopped reading after the third reason because i got to figuring that if you weren’t born there would have been less ignorance in the world-
Super interesting article, come to think of it, most of the statements in here are common sense, yet most people seem to lack common sense.
yeah, you probably co authored this article as well…
get off the weed- common sense…
In your article “why you shouldn’t have children”, you are propagating the same satanic dogma as Margret Sanger and Adolf Hitler.
I pity your two errors of birth control for being born to selfish pro-aborts, who for some reason, didn’t go through with the abortion-murder of their own children.
lol no. You’re super wrong sir, you mention Adolf Hitler, who didn’t want people to not reproduce, but Aryans and only Aryans to reproduce. Get your facts straight.
Also, nothing about not having children is “satanic”, au contraire, it’s the safest and best thing not only for each individual, but for the planet. And the planet comes first.
Want to have children? Adopt, there are plenty of unwanted children being given-up for adoption, THAT is satanic, instead of aborting a child and sparing them all the suffering you could ever cause them by leaving them to a merciless society that condemns abortion but not leaving a helpless child without a family, not even a single parent.
Never been a fan of children. Maybe that’s caused by my super germophobia and children’s need to be touching everything with their hands, or perhaps because I’m a loner and value my personal space and peace. But maybe it’s something entirely different, maybe I just don’t like them. People always try to push their values about children onto me, trying to convince me that “when the time comes I will want them”. The more they say such things the more I actually hate the idea of having children. People, not everyone has to like children, we are all different and that’s what makes us special. I much prefer my wee dogs, they’re less demanding and I know they won’t even turn into bitchy little teenagers.
I’d have to agree to a large degree on this. It’s honestly the likely reason some grandparents can enjoy being grandparents – “they’re not MY problem, I just send them back to my child when I’m tired or they’re inconvenient” Liking the idea of having children of your own & liking children are two different things. Some folks are lucky to realize early on that at certain times in their life, it just does not work for them and take proper effective steps to avoid procreating.
There will always be human success & tragedy stories for both having children & not (and vice a versa). Regrets and Blessings are often found from either side of this issue…
If you have never been a fan of children then you must not like yourself because you were once a child too.I’m a woman with one child who means more to me than anyone or anything in this world.It’s not always easy raising my child but he was and always will be a gift from God and God will help me raise him.You may want to talk to GOD about how you are feeling and remember that you too were a child and a gift from GOD and he loves you very much.
You were a child too. Do you not like yourself ? I don’t like germs but that’s why they make soap, to wash them away.I and my child wash our hands.My child is not a teenager yet but I believe teenagers are still learning and want guidence and God will help parents to guide these teenagers. Children are gifts from GOD so that makes you a gift from GOD too.God loves you and he is always ready to listen if you want to talk.
First, there is no god, so give it a rest. Yeah, I know it’s your opinion and you have the right to pollute the internet with it, but I have just as much right to offer my opinion, so there’s that. Some people don’t like children. They are not a “gift” from anyone/thing; they are simply a result of meiosis. I loved my child. I even liked him most of the time. I certainly liked him better as he grew up. I do not like children in general though. And yes, I didn’t like myself as a child either.