"Aaaaaw... my baby loves me" thinks the mommy to whom this is addressed. So much love and warmth and [insert scratched record sound here]...
I think too many people have children because they are bored. That's right - bored. I see it all the time. "She brings me so much joy." "I could watch her all day." "He loves to climb and I love to chase him around." Too many times the people giving birth say things like, "My children give me purpose." Well, your children will eventually figure out that they are your "purpose" and be fed up with having to be the entities that give your life meaning and they will rebel and resent you for being put in a position to have to make YOU feel better about yourself.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not down on motherhood. I'm not a mother - by choice. But I do see the beauty in holding a tiny baby and loving it with all your heart and wanting the best and brightest future for that being. I do. I totally get that part of it. But I've watched people parenting over many years and I find that a great many of them aren't really in it for the best interest of the child. They're in it for themselves and the child is a pawn. A necessary actor in their parents' fantasies. It's sad. I wish there were a way to stop that before it happens procreation by selfish or stupid or unfit or negligent or downright abusive people cannot be stopped. And so, therapists will always have work and the criminal justice system will always have work and the hospitals will always have work and rehab clinics and homeless organizations and on and on. The list of people engaged in the fixing of broken people will never be shortened because some woman (or girl) thinks babies are cute and there's nothing else going on so why not have one?
Sigh.
