about this issue is people's inability to take responsibility for their own actions. I am speaking of those who are content to let nature take its course in terms of getting pregnant and let society pick up the tab. The people who are responsible and make the good choices and make something of themselves are the ones who pay for it. It's ridiculous that so many of the most ill-prepared people are the ones having the most children, living off the system, and so unwilling to admit their mistakes that their children go on to accept it as the norm and perpetuate the cycle. I think it's wonderful for people to have a lot of children if they want to, can afford to, and will raise them well. And I know people like that personally. But because you are careless? Because you slipped up in the romance of the moment? Particularly those who "slip up" repeatedly! One child out of wedlock I can have some consideration for. Several? That becomes very difficult to have any sympathy for. Frankly, it angers me. I worked hard to be who I am and use my head, and why the heck should I pay the price for someone else's failures? Again I am thinking not of one time that is made the best of and moved on, but people to whom its a way of life, i.e. people who have more kids knowing they get more welfare money that way. If you can't learn from a mistake that big, but make it multiple times and just let other people pick up the slack, you are just pathetic. Now I am not saying that the CHILD is a mistake and I think it's horrible for a parent to tell a child so, although in many situations they will feel it because they will see you are in over your head...and blame themselves. But YOUR bad decision making is a mistake. If you can't even handle the responsibility and cost of birth control (or, actually, just SELF-CONTROL) and education so you can work, you have no business thinking you can handle or afford a child! They are not a toy, or just a minor chore, but a huge responsibility who depends on you for their very future. If a large part of the future of our society is coming from those who contribute the least and are the biggest leeches off of society (uneducated, unworking/living off welfare, or children who just aren't yet at a point of contributing), we are in trouble.
Kudos to those whose kids have come out well, who have made their situation come out well in spite of the circumstances against them. I'm sure it was hard, and I admire you for taking the effort. I do realize that sometimes people get in over their heads and things happen in spite of best intentions and even in spite of every effort to do the right thing. What I have the problem with is "repeat offenders" who defend themselves and are ignorant to the consequences faced by their children and society. I realize there are exceptions out there, but they only prove that bad choices can be redeemed and overcome on occasion, not that the consequences don't exist or that the decisions weren't bad.
