WOW!! 16 kids!! I cannot even imagine!!
MHO, I think giving birth to 16 children is a bit over the top...we do have an overpopulation problem in this world. I do agree that it is their business and take no issue with them doing what they want with their lives. And I understand the birth control issue that Finn's Mom brought up also. I don't know the solution...except stop having sex and start adopting!
There are thousands,if not millions of children that need homes. I honestly haven't heard much about this family,just what I saw on TV tonight and what I have read here BUT I did hear the father say that they love children and love raising them. They can do that by adopting as well as they can by reproducing....sometines I think the "self-reproduction" thing is overrated and self-centered...the world doesn't necessarily need another "me" or even another person with my "bloodlines." The world needs to care for the children that need homes and love and TLC and raise them as good, kind, caring, productive members of society. I'm not all that wonderful that I think there needs to be another one of "me" living 200 years from now!! LOL!!
However, that adoption issue brings back up the birth control issue and if they are against it then I don't know....? I read an article in Reader's Digest a month or 2 ago about a family that had 25 children, 3 natural and 22 adopted. All the adopted children had some form of disability, most had Down's symdrome and some had cerebal palsy and a few others had some other form of disability. (I can't remember exactly) So that family is raising even MORE children than this family is, the difference being that most of theirs were adopted. I guess if this family had stopped after 3 there would be room in their home and hearts for 13 needy children...That is just how I see it. I am a huge advocate of adoption in both pets and humans. However, I am also a woman of child-bearing age who does not have any children of her own so, in a way, I am speaking out of turn as I am not in their, or any parent's shoes.
Re: college education costs...I think that the ~$30,000 cost was a PER YEAR cost, not a 4 year cost. So that's $120,000 per child x 16. (I can't even attempt to to the math!!
Simply mind-boggling!! And Logan, I agree with you to some extent that it is a good idea to have the child contribute to their own college education and that it is in no way entirely the parent's responsibility. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work out the way it was intended, to teach responsibility and the value of money and education to your children. I paid for most of my own bachelor's degree, my parents paid what they could and sent me spending money ($20/month 10 yrs ago that was a GOLD MINE!!!) I also worked on campus while I was in college. I still left school with over $30,000 in student loans which is relatively mild compared to today's figures or what people with advanced degrees are paying but keep in mind,I went to a NY state school, not a private school. My first student loan payment 9 months after I graduated, was more than my paycheck for the entire month of work at my first job!!!!!!!!!! And I had a fairly decent job, comparable with other college grads at the time! I had to get my payments reduced time and time again until my pay caught up with the monthly payment they were expecting from me. Even now, I will easily be paying them for another 20 years. AND, because of those student loans, I lived with my parents until I was 27 years old because I could barely afford the 6 yr old used car I bought to get to work much less my own place to live!! Compared to my best friend whose parents were able to afford to pay 100% of her private school education as well as give her a used car when she graduated. She was living on her own at 22 and just built her own home whereas I hae little to no savings and am still renting. (I love her to death and maybe jealous but I am not bitter, I ADORE my parents and wouldn't change a thing, I'm just making a point.) I guess the parents will still get the "costs" of the education, either on the front or the back side...(That sounds funny!!
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