Kids: Blessing Or Curse

 

You don’t know what you’re missing vs. dodged that bullet

Ah, children. The future of civilization. We place our hopes and dreams on them even though they don’t deserve it. We make plans for them and when they find out about our plans, they plan on doing something completely different.

That’s not to say that we shouldn’t be proud to have them. We are! Our hearts burst with pride when we see how much they look like us. You can spot features and actions that remind us of beloved family members.


Your kid may have a gait like a treasured uncle. They may have a smile like a favorite aunt. A twinkle in the eye, like the mailman. All things familiar to us by the sharing of genetics.


It gives us a bond that can never be broken until the day they pilfer the car keys and do donuts in the neighbor’s yard and take out the mailbox, or figure out your password and order a trombone and an entire collection of James Bond movies from Amazon.

There are pluses and minuses

Having one or two children, if you have the means, seems to be the societal norm at this time in our semi-illustrious history. There was a time where multiple children were needed in the family unit.

They needed many children to run the family enterprise, like a farm or a large mercantile interest. There was a lot of interest in mercantile, especially by the people running the farms.


By today’s standards, having many children, and by many, I mean 5 or 6 plus children. Specifically, the plus children. We as a society can use as many plus children as we can get. Mainly, kids that can get an A+ in the subjects that the kids are subjected to in school.

Where was I?

Oh yes! Having various children that have our faces has become more of a vanity project. We give them haircuts we wish we could have. We dress them up the way we wish we could dress.

Or we make them look ridiculous just so we can quietly chuckle under our breaths because, in our own subtle and sublime way, we are sticking it to the Man and what we perceive to be society’s mislaid norms.

And then there are the people that won’t or can’t have children, whatever the case may be. Peers and family members alike put upon them the need to become part of the parenting club. If you count yourself as a member, let me put your mind to a well-earned ease.

You can still buy a house large enough for an extended brood. Only you can fill it with a kickass miniature railroad or a recreational area with a pool table and a Hot-Wheel track of your dreams. 

Watch movies in your own state-of-the-art theatre without having to make individual snacks for each child or trying to fall asleep during the latest ear-splitting cartoon.

Get yourself a giant SUV even though you will only use it to transport a myriad of black labradors or other assorted paraphernalia.

Do not use it, however, to carry any cats, either singular or plural. They don’t like it and will actively display their individual or collective displeasure on anyone within reasonable, for them, distance.

You can book vacations to family friendly resorts and amusement parks for a longer duration than the usual 3 days. That’s about as long as people with many offspring can control their nerves. There are two types of vacations —first class and with children.


There are many pros and cons to the commitment of raising a family. The decision should be conducted thoughtfully and soberly. On the other hand, many of us wouldn’t be here if our parents were sober and/or thoughtful.

Photo by Alvin Mahmudov on Unsplash