Spotted this when I was browsing the papers today, went and found it on the web:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=476669&in_page_id=1879Now, I don't believe everyone should have children. If it's not right for you, then fair enough. But her article is the most depressing, mean-spirited thing I've read in some time. Why, exactly, did she have children? Two, no less. Surely she knew what she was signing up for with the second at any rate.
And her comment: "People often ask me what my children think of the book, but they don't give a damn.
They live in their own world and I live in mine."
Her kids are 13 and 10. Living in their own world?! I try not to be too judgmental about other people's parenting, but she really doesn't sound like a great mother--she resents her kids, thinks they're an intrusion on her time and energy, hates doing anything with or for them and thinks the way to teach a kid to behave is a slap. In public. You can get kids to behave without slapping and you don't have to give in and let them turn into spoilt brats either. There are parents out there with a backbone who set boundaries.
Some of her reasons are bogus:
Children cost a fortune - children cost what you want to spend. No one twists your arm to buy all that baby gear.
You can never eat in a grown-up restaurant - news to me, my parents may not have taken us to Michelin 3 star restaurants but they took us places with real china and tablecloths and we behaved. And ate the food.
Your career - it's the priority you and your partner make it.
Becoming a maid - you let it happen. Go on strike. If you're working, your partner should be helping out with the housework.
Overpopulation - the fertility rate in Western Europe is below replacement level. The 1 or 2 kids of your typical Western woman is fundamentally irrelevant to the population problem. (We do consume more resources per capita, true, but you can reduce individual consumption.)
The others are all personal--I like the zoo, I find toddlers tiring but not boring (you can play with toddlers), and your sex life is about effort.
What annoys me, I think, is her stupid overgeneralisation. Some of these things will be true for some people, but it's not exactly an objective view of parenthood.
For the record, I think the counterpoint is a load of fluffy nonsense. I can refute the garbage in the anti page, but ultimately, the only reason to have kids is because you want to and would find it satisfying. Kids are work. I wouldn't say that being a mother is the best job in the world; that's a total cliché. But there is a kind of satisfaction and enjoyment to it that's different from what you get at work. Kids aren't just snivelling, pooping brats--they can be a lot of fun, which is why people sign up for it.
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