Sunday, February 08, 2009

When is enough, enough?

Listening to: Radio 1

I love children. I would love to have children of my own. Would I go to the same lengths as 'Octo-mom'? Probably not.

Being the broody hen that I am, I have thought about what I'd do about motherhood if Prince Charming trips over his laces and falls into a bottomless pit on his way to rescue me from perpetual singledom. Would I ask a friend to donate a few tadpoles for IVF? Erm no offence guys, but maybe not :P Would I visit a sperm bank and risk birthing the offspring of a psychopath? No thank you! So I decided the most responsible way I could bring up a child as single parent would be to adopt. The money I might have spent on IVF would be used for my kid's welfare, and I figured that's pretty sensible, right?

Now all this is my personal opinion and therefore I won't criticise any single woman who wants to produce her own offspring. If she can afford it. I don't just mean the IVF. I mean from planning the conception to the kid leaving school. Parenthood to me is much more than just popping them out every so often - it's giving a human being a solid start in life. A huge responsibility, and even more so when you're on your own.

So back to Octo-mom. Her background has suddenly come to light - unemployed, disability allowance, bankruptcy, six kids under 7yrs, IVF - these are just a few of the phrases circulating in the news these days. Now maybe she'll surprise everyone and turn out to be Wonder-mom, in which case I'll apologise for this critique. But realistically...does it look like she can give all her fourteen children a solid start in life? Will she use her earnings from the various book/tv deals that are in the pipeline for further IVF treatment? Or will she use those earnings for her kids' welfare and continue to use taxpayers' money for IVF? Or will she use those earnings for her kids' welfare, decide that enough is enough and be content with her now-massive family?

Either way, good luck to those kids.

1 comment:

  1. Agreed, haelio. I think that's another reason I'd prefer to adopt - one parent is not as good as two, but better than none, no?

    ReplyDelete

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