"I am often asked by women dating men how to tell whether they are marriage material. I tell them, ‘See if he enjoys children.’ A man who loves children is playful. He will spend his life joking with his wife because he loves to see her laugh, and will flirt with her because he loves to see her smile.
There was a time when husbands and wives worked hard to ensure they could afford the blessings of a large family. Today, the higher your earning bracket the fewer children you have, but then we always knew that many turn money from a blessing into a curse."
Babies are No Longer a Blessing by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach
I've heard Protestants and Catholics defend large families, and religions like Islam encourage large families (much mores so than Christians, unfortunately). Here's a Jewish perspective.
Hat tip: Love and Blunder
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3 comments:
I only have one and one on the way and we already get comments, stares and questions... Another so soon? Was it planned? Oh, another boy, I'm sure you were hoping for a girl so you could stop. How does your wife feel about you wanting a large family?
I feel that he hit the nail on the head...selfishness. What people really mean is..."Don't bring another living being into the word to breath my air, eat my food, bring noise into my world and clutter my view.How dare you be so inconsiderate!"
I know what you mean. With #1 everyone was overjoyed for us. With #2 we got a lot of support, especially when he was a boy after our first girl. With #3, there was a marked decrease in peoples' positive comments, and a good bit of "This is the last one, right?" and the like. It's sad. Our close friends and family were very happy, but a lot of other people acted like she surely must be some kind of accident. :)
And here's what I'm thinking about that topic this morning (post coming some day, I'm sure): Children and teenagers are the one group that Christians can make rude jokes about, and in front of them!
Things like, "4 boys at home? No wonder you want to be at this Bible study."
Maybe I'm over-sensitive, but we don't necessarily act like we believe children are a blessing.
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