It’s actually quite amazing how people are quite loose when it comes to childbearing and the total number of kids any one family can have. If you take a look at the different families that make up the society, you’ll see that the number of children in each family varies, and there are different reasons for that.
In the old days, couples used to have loads of kids so as they grew up, they could help out on the farm. The more hands that are available to help, the better for the family because it means that their output would grow exponentially. However, in modern days, it’s appalling to see that there are people who have an interest in having a large number of kids even though they have no way of taking care of them.
Here in Nigeria, the government has no business with the number of children a couple can have. You can give birth to twenty kids for all they care and it won’t shake them. And as a result, we’ve grown to be one of the most populous nations in the world which is really sad considering we’re also the world capital of poverty.
If you’re rich and can afford it, no one will hold it against you if you choose to have a hundred kids. As long as you can do what is right by them, then it’s all good. You can provide their basic needs, even be there for them as a parent, then, by all means, knock yourself out. It only becomes a problem when you have kids you have no idea of how you’ll take care of them.
I know a family friend's relation who is just in that category. So far, he had four kids already (the last time I saw him, his wife was heavily pregnant with another, she must have delivered by now) and they all lived in the village. But guess what, he doesn’t have a job, and neither does his wife. There is literally nothing that the parents do to make money. Yet, they keep making babies, why?
They rely on their siblings who are living in different parts of the world. Some are in other parts of Nigeria and others are in other countries. And every month, these siblings send money down to this lazy man and his wife to take care of their kids. However, the annoying thing is, they don’t really send him the money. They send the money to their mother for her upkeep, and this friend lives with his mother. There’s no way the old woman will allow him and his family to starve in her house, right? So, she feeds him and his family.
Imagine your old age, after raising your kids and when they suddenly start making it and it’s time for you to relax and enjoy your later years, you resort to helping your fully grown adult son raise his own family. Funny enough, the couple are both graduates, they both make use of smartphones, and are internet savvy. If they want to make money, they would. However, they prefer mooching off their old mother.
This is how pathetic a lot of people are. They’ll give birth to so many children and then expect others to take care of them. Like, am I the one that told you to have unprotected sex? When you refuse to help such people, they tag you as a bad family member. It won’t matter that you have kids of your own that you’re also struggling to raise. They only care about themselves.
It has gotten to the point where the government has to interfere. We need to put a cap on all this because it really doesn’t make any sense. It’s perplexing how able-bodied men and women will have children and would rather let others take care of them rather than do the needful and work. How will such a family ever get out of poverty? When there will always be bills and bills to pay.
Most of the time, the people I pity in such families are usually the first and second born, because they’re the ones who become the breadwinner even before they’ve started learning anything. They’re the ones who will end up seeing their siblings through school and providing for the family. A really unjust punishment, if you ask me.
We really need to do better. At least, if the government won’t regulate it, let’s regulate ourselves. Because the more we keep birthing more children than we can take care of, the more we’ll have criminals and other hoodlums roaming the streets. This is for our own good.
