India’s rapidly growing population is about to turn from an asset into a burden with a population reaching almost 1.2 billion. So their government has come up with a master plan to curb the population by offering newlyweds cash (about $106) to delay having children. Could this work in America?Traveling door-to-door like a modern day Avon lady, a nurse visits the homes of young couples and suggests that they wait a while before having children so they can finish school or save money. Almost half of India’s population is under 25, which is prime reproduction age and part of the reason why there are so many people there, but this statistic also gives India an advantage because the country will have a young, vast work force in the next five years.
America doesn’t have a population problem, but we do have a problem with unwanted pregnancies, teenagers having kids (see MTV’s “16 and Pregnant”), parents who drive their children into lakes, and children who are suffering because they are born to parents who just aren’t fit to parent.
Being a parent is no joke. You have to be involved and interactive, attentive, communicative, caring, responsible and nurturing all the time. Not just when you feel like it, not only on the weekends, but everyday.
How much easier can it be to not have a kid in America? There are too many birth control options that are available here and some can be obtained free. And to be clear, I’m not suggesting that children don’t deserve to be born or that aborting children is a solution, my argument is that before a new life has the possibility of being, grown folks need to think about what they are ready to handle. How unfair is it to have a child and give anything less than he or she deserves? That’s a crime in itself.
In her recent interview with Vogue magazine, Halle Berry says that reproduction and the laws of nature are backwards: “Nature has got it all wrong: When you are younger, it should be harder to get pregnant, and as you get older it should be easier. When you are so ready, you can’t do it to save your life. And when you are 21, you are so not ready, but you are ripe as could be. The eggs should become more developed the older you get, not die slowly from the day you’re born. That’s one thing God got wrong.”
Is offering people money to stop having babies in America realistic? Probably not, but there is something to be said for people realizing that they are not the best person to raise another person, especially one who will depend on you for at least the next 18 years.
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