I always wanted a family. I raised (my husband and I raised) two children. Until they reached early teen years, they were, yes, messy, ungrateful, at times disagreeable, and the center of my universe. When they hit those awful teen years, they made me understand why some animals eat their young. Even tho they were raised right, they were disrespectful, rude, and obnoxious. They were my children, tho, and I loved them with every breath in my body. My mother, the wisest woman I know, told me more than once that if we could just hang in there till they were 24, we would see actual human beings... the ones we pictured them as when we were teaching them as children...emerge. She was right, and we now have two great adult children, a wonderful son-in-Law, and four perfect grandchildren. But we wanted those two children desperately, and felt it was worth the work. And for us, it was. We have a wonderful family. But I know that had we not wanted them, and not wanted the whole messy, sometimes heartbreaking, always thankless job of raising them, we would not have made it thru those teenage years and come out of them as well as we did.
People who do not want children should NOT have them, and there is nothing wrong with that. As a mother and a woman, I can't say that I understand that feeling, but I do think a happy childless couple is waaay better than a miserable family. I also don't think that one has to HAVE a child in order to write a story about a child. The author seems to be an intelligent woman, the movie is disturbing but accurate in its portrayal of a psychopathic child/teen, and has really stuck with me long after the first time I watched it.
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aaaf-2
9 years ago
Indeed, what a beautiful response! Me and my girlfriend are now trying to imagine a future with children, and you did a perfect of job of "filling in the blanks". Thank you for that :-)
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zdorris93
8 years ago
Hilarious to me parents are posting about children being ungrateful, messy, and all these other stupid things. Children owe you NOTHING. A child does not ask to be born, but adults ask for children. As parents you should be smart enough to know your kids are going to be messy and not understand the value of currency, but I hate the word ungrateful used for children. Parents make plenty of money off of the kids they have through tax breaks, tax credits, etc. I would say %90 of the parents I know are not nearly the parents they think they are. As a child all I was was a way for my parents to argue over how they split wealth, or manipulate each other and people around them. They have admitted this to all my brothers and sisters. I love them none the less, but I don't feel I owe them anything or ANY kid I have or know owes an adult anything. You had a kid for your own personal reasons. Stop acting like they owe you the world because they gave you a lifetime of fulfillment watching them grow and learn. Grow the hell up and stop acting like someone YOU chose to have who is totally dependent on you for EVERYTHING and you knew that before they were born owes you something. I'd say its a fair trade watching them grow and giving you a lifetime of memories. Sidenote if the author doesnt want to have a kid its her choice. Once again far too many *beep* unloving parents as is. *Mic drop
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paynespnz
8 years ago
You think that parents MAKE money off of their kids? Are you 12 or just stupid? I have 2 kids and even when working full time and my wife and I both in college and tax exempt, the biggest tax return I got was $6,000 for a whole family. Keep in mind that I paid that out of my paychecks every week by claiming zero through the year and then claiming 4 dependents on my tax return. Even if that $6k was all just free money at the end of the year it would still not even make a dent in what it costs to raise two children.
If as a child all you were to your parents was a way for your parents "to argue over how to split the wealth" whatever the hell that means, maybe that's because you're a useless excuse for a person and always have been.
And not all parents "want" children when they have them. I didn't ask to have a child on the way before my 21st birthday. I was already married and my wife was on birth control. No birth control is 100% effective. Yes we chose to keep our child but that does not mean that we were planning on having her.
Saying that children are ungrateful is not claiming that they owe you something. It's making an accurate observation. Have you ever actually talked to a teenager lately? Kids crying about not having the newest iPhone and bitching that their parents aren't good enough. That is the definition of ungrateful. Yes they do owe a parent something. They owe them their life. Simple as that. A parent does not owe their child any more than the safest and healthiest environment they can provide. They do not owe their kids the latest and greatest of everything. No child should ever be that spoiled. It just breeds ignorant, entitled twits like you.
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Jakezen
8 years ago
Parents make plenty of money off of the kids they have through tax breaks, tax credits, etc.
You are clueless
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