Eight Is More Than Enough.....

I'm sure by now everyone has heard about the woman in Southern California who had fertility treatments and gave birth to eight children.

I'm doing my best to refrain from some rather colorful remarks. The entire thing appalls me.

But setting that aside, it's hard to fathom anyone choosing to have eight children when she already has six others, three of whom have special needs.

Her statement? "I'll be there for all of my children" and "I've always wanted a big family."

That is naive thinking that has no place in the mind of a woman her age. At some point, someone has to call it what it really is: wrong.

She is a single woman, no husband or boyfriend involved. She lives at her parents' house. She hasn't yet completed her degree. She has no job and no income.

As old-fashioned as it may sound, there comes a point when people need to grow up and understand they can't have everything they want, simply because they want it. Making the decision to have fourteen children is irresponsible and, dare I say it?, stupid. Her reasoning is that she wanted "more people to love me". What? Are her children responsible for seeing to it that her needs are met? She grew up as a single child and always wanted a large family. Just the same, I always thought it was the other way around. We are there to meet the needs of our children.

But she wants. She needs. She wants to be loved. She. She. She. I. I. I. Me. Me. Me.

There is no way she will be able to provide the attention to all of those children they require, regardless of the idealistic view she might have of it. She will not be able to "be there" for all of them. Her three special needs children require more attention than an average child. Her special needs children are developmentally disabled which means they will probably be dependent on her for life. The other three, I suppose, will be tasked with taking care of the babies when the mother goes to school or work. And, of course, the grandparents. Children should be free to go out and play, go to school and be kids. It's not their job to raise their siblings.

Call me old-fashioned if you will but I believe adults need to make responsible decisions ~ but there it is. They need to sift through information and make decisions based on what can realistically be done, no matter what their feelings might be.

This is one of those cases where it might be in the best interests of the children to be removed from the home and adopted out to parents who have the means, the desire and the availability to raise them.

So.. what say you?

~*