Babies: They’re cute, cuddly, take a lot of work and cry all the time.
Pets: They’re cute, cuddly, poop in the house and bark a lot or scratch the couch.
The best of both worlds come with the responsibility of having a child or an animal to care for. Both require money, love, and effort. Traditionally a couple gets a dog (or a fish) then decide if they can care for an actual human. Lately, I’ve been hearing the opposite. Some couples are just fine with their dog. They wish to focus on themselves and grow with each other, which doesn’t involve a third wheel.
I’m home for the summer and back to working at the gym again which leads to meeting new people everyday, or picking up usual conversations with the regulars. After sparking up the topic with this one guy I normally talk to who is single and 25, he suggested that maybe adopting isn’t the best idea for him but neither is having his own children, at least not anytime soon.
I enjoy hearing others’ views on having children because I particularly love going against tradition in small ways. The typical school, relationship, job, marriage ordeal is not meant for everybody, nor does it always pan out as well as we hope. I’m at the point in my life where I go with the flow and I want to observe the lemons life hands me before a path is paved. I’m sure most college students feel such ways at this point, but this is why I’m interested in hearing opinions about having children.
Yesterday I shadowed an interview with a local body builder (oh yeah, i’m an intern now) and one of the topics he touched on was the horrible generation growing up and the fact that he didn’t want children. Muscle man and his girlfriend have two pitbulls (alpha and omega, go figure), who he said was hard enough to find someone to babysit for while he’s away competing. His girlfriend also used to compete, so she shares the same views. They wish to take their own route in life, including being selfish by traveling and growing as a couple.
So instead of not following the traditional course, some people want to be selfish and so what? There’s nothing wrong with it. Some don’t have a choice but to live that way, and no onlooker has a right to judge.
Another good point muscle man made was that he used to want four, two , then no children because of the society we live in. He started out as a bouncer at college bars and when he witnessed how males treat women and how women act while drunk, he brought his children number down from four to none. The examples he made baffle and disgust me so much that I refuse to share.
It’s hard enough to raise a child, but add all the interference of society; unregulated technology, drama, bullying, getting into trouble, dating and anything else that’s normally involved. Females think it’s okay to do risque things in public for attention now, that would have never been acceptable ten years ago because they actually cared about what their parents or others thought. I’m not saying you should always care about what people think of your person, but I’m one to appreciate proper c
haracter. Now, parents are having the most difficult time monitoring their child’s every move when it involves other platforms.
There may not be a solution to this epidemic (this coming from a 19-yr-old), but limitations and rules can be placed. From experience, the most strict parents in high school had the most ‘bad ass’ kids. Therefore, some adult’s solution these days require not having children at all (as you can see, dogs are better than babies). It was sad to hear that this man used to want children and now he has no desire to. Certainly we are all entitled to our own views, but society and pop culture shouldn’t have this intense of an impact.
Mind you, that is two people’s views I’ve come across, and I plan on searching for many more. Not for my own sake, but to make sense of what is really happening with the younger years…if possible. Have respect for yourself, and then maybe others will too.