[Happinow]

I'm interested in your opinion on kind of a personal question. If you knew then, what you know now, would you still have had children? For whatever your reasons are, pro or con, what do you think? We all know we love our children to death and wouldn't trade them for the world, but with life's experiences, would you do it again? And given the way the world is now would you advise your children to have children?

I've asked my sisters and brothers and the reaction is mixed. What do you think?

[graciegirl]

Boy howdy.

[Happinow]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

Boy howdy.

I have seen this response on a few threads and I don't know what it means. I guess I'm too young....

[Dennis Ga]

Originally Posted by Happinow

I have seen this response on a few threads and I don't know what it means. I guess I'm too young....

I think it means, You have asked a deep and thoughful question that will take allot of thought to answer.

[chuckinca]

Yes.

4 kids

and so far -

7 grand kids

1 great grand kid


.

[keithwand]

I divorced when my son was 3 and I raised him full time as a single parent when he was 8.

Living with his Mom was deteriorating more and more so I fought for him again. Even his teacher and principal wanted him removed from his mother and the environment.

Needless to say back then "Dads" did not get their kids. Another $10K down the drain.

THEN- I got a call from his Mother that her car had died and if I got her another car she would trade me.

Here's your car!

He is now 33 and the married father of an almost 1 yr. old daughter and a 3 year old spitting image of a son.

Hell yes!

Now (since 1995) I have a step son and daughter 38 and 40 and 4 lovely grandaughters from almost 1 to 14 years.

[Pathel]

Originally Posted by Happinow

I'm interested in your opinion on kind of a personal question. If you knew then, what you know now, would you still have had children? For whatever your reasons are, pro or con, what do you think? We all know we love our children to death and wouldn't trade them for the world, but with life's experiences, would you do it again? And given the way the world is now would you advise your children to have children?

I've asked my sisters and brothers and the reaction is mixed. What do you think?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Advice from Dutchgirl: If you think you need help, go to a counselor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Response from Happinow: I'm not a basket case (yet). Just wondered if others felt more anxious as the move got closer. Want to make sure I'm "normal".
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sometimes, dear Hap, your posts are not exactly "happy" and perhaps it is time to get some therapy. You could ask the therapist the questions you obviously are struggling with - having children and such.

We all want you to be happy - now and in the future. Your posts often don't come across as sounding too happy. A therapist could help you - and you could find out from a professional if you are "normal".

We are older, some of us. We have found out that money and material things don't bring happiness. We all wish you happiness...now and in the future.

[Skybo]

Originally Posted by Happinow

I have seen this response on a few threads and I don't know what it means. I guess I'm too young....

Here are a few definitions from urbandictionary.com:

Boy Howdy:

Southern slang. An interjection. Often used as an expression of surprise for large quantities of something, or severity of something. "Boy howdy! Them pumpkins sure are big! How're we gonna carry 'em all, Ms. McGregor?"

An exclamation of enthusiastic agreement which can be used in both a genuine or sarcastic tone. In addition can used to add emphasis to a statement.

General expression/interjection, similar in usage to "wow," "oh, man," or "yep".

[The Village Girl]

Originally Posted by Skybo

Here are a few definitions from urbandictionary.com:

Boy Howdy:

Southern slang. An interjection. Often used as an expression of surprise for large quantities of something, or severity of something. "Boy howdy! Them pumpkins sure are big! How're we gonna carry 'em all, Ms. McGregor?"

An exclamation of enthusiastic agreement which can be used in both a genuine or sarcastic tone. In addition can used to add emphasis to a statement.

General expression/interjection, similar in usage to "wow," "oh, man," or "yep".

Or, Are you freaking kidding?

[Skybo]

Originally Posted by The Village Girl

Or, Are you freaking kidding?

lol. Yes, I had to selectively edit out some of the terminology from urban dictionary before posting.

[eweissenbach]

Originally Posted by Happinow

I'm interested in your opinion on kind of a personal question. If you knew then, what you know now, would you still have had children? For whatever your reasons are, pro or con, what do you think? We all know we love our children to death and wouldn't trade them for the world, but with life's experiences, would you do it again? And given the way the world is now would you advise your children to have children?

I've asked my sisters and brothers and the reaction is mixed. What do you think?

Cannot imagine anyone with children admitting to themself or anyone else that they would not have their children, given the chance. WOW. Ok, maybe jeffrey dahmer's parents, but......................................

[Happinow]

Originally Posted by keithwand

I divorced when my son was 3 and I raised him full time as a single parent when he was 8.

Living with his Mom was deteriorating more and more so I fought for him again. Even his teacher and principal wanted him removed from his mother and the environment.

Needless to say back then "Dads" did not get their kids. Another $10K down the drain.

THEN- I got a call from his Mother that her car had died and if I got her another car she would trade me.

Here's your car!

He is now 33 and the married father of an almost 1 yr. old daughter and a 3 year old spitting image of a son.

Hell yes!

Now (since 1995) I have a step son and daughter 38 and 40 and 4 lovely grandaughters from almost 1 to 14 years.

Great story! That's what I was getting at with this post. It's a lot to think about.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by Happinow

I have seen this response on a few threads and I don't know what it means. I guess I'm too young....

boy howdier

[Bill-n-Brillo]

It doesn't matter what you choose to do in life - - - there are always pros and cons......upsides and downsides to everything.

Also, your question makes the assumption that everyone has children, Happinow..........

Bill

[Happinow]

Let me clarify my OP a bit. Here's where I was coming from.....

Most of us have grown children, some grown children are younger and some are older. The world has changed significantly since you and I were in our teens/twentys/thirties. It seems the family unit as we knew it has all but disappeared. The times when we all sat down to dinner together, the times when not everyone had to have the best and have it now, the times when there was no bullying, the times when it only took one member of the family to work to support the family, the times when we all had affordable healthcare, etc. I feel that our younger children, 20's and 30's are struggling to monumental magnitudes to make end meet, if they even can. Some college degrees aren't worth the paper they are printed on, college tuition isn't affordable any longer, thus we have a bunch of uneducated people. I personally feel badly that my daughter may never own her own home in spite of the fact that she and her fiance both work full time. I fear that there will not be affordable daycare for her child. We could buy a gal. of milk for under a dollar, now it's 4.00. Gas is almost 4.00/gal.and when we were driving it was 99 cents a gal. When we were bringing up our children, things weren't like this and I just wondered if you knew that the world would become such a difficult place to live for a lot of people, would you still have chosen to put your children through this? It has nothing to do with the fact of how much you love them. If you had a crystal ball, would you subject our young children to this termoil in the world?? I hope I clarified my post a bit better.