My biggest pet peeve is people not preparing enough to be parents. Or, rather, people not bearing children according to their means and earnings. You'd see a couple living in a one-room apartment in a ghetto area, not conducive for raising children. While it is expected that such couples improve their living conditions before becoming parents, we'd see them jump right into being parents even when their combined income is barely enough to cover their basic necessities; you'd still see them with five children, plus the woman being heavily pregnant with their sixth.
Most times, you meet these people in public, and they are crowding up your space. I remember closing from work super exhausted and just wanting to go home to shower and have dinner. I was in a public vehicle waiting for other passengers to come in. Then, this woman came with her four children, plus the one she was carrying on her back, making it five. I was seated there, minding my business, when I heard the driver telling the woman that one seat cannot carry her plus her children. You see, one disturbing trait of this category of people is that they often reek of entitlement mentality. It was the woman knowing one seat will not do and its also her not being polite enough to seek my consent before pushing two of her children to me.
At that moment, I was mentally drained and would prefer my space of which I apologized and told her that I can't help with the children. She picked offence and tagged me of being void of maternal instincts. I already had a long day and I wasn't going to make it more hectic by engaging in confrontations so I simply ignored her. Later on, another passenger came in and helped her with children, which it was quite inconvenincing for me as they took up some of my space in addition to theirs.
I find it quite annoying and irritating that people will knowingly set themselves up to suffer. It's a no-brainer that children are basically responsibilities that eat deep into one's finances and mental health. When children are had without proper planning, as some people in my country would defend, saying it's God who gives children, it irks me. It irks me because such a mentality not only creates generational poverty but also causes a strain on the economy, financially, ethically, and otherwise.
It's a fact that most of these children end up becoming societal menaces. Although I may not know it all, given my life experiences as a development economist and social/welfare officer, I'm aware that most societal problems stem from the inability of adults to manage procreation effectively. Basically, I'm of the opinion that if adults start procreating responsibly, we just might move on from poverty as a nation.
I like that you stood up for you self giving that you were not mentally prepared for that.
Apart from the education we gave on such matters what else can be done.
Nothing really, because the only muscle that can put an end to such nonsense is the government but they are not prepared to.
This matter!!!🤣
Who are you going to tell to give birth responsibly? Do they know what responsibly mean?😂
On a more serious note, it’s something we should take very serious and keep educating the public.