POLL: Kids

[leapinlew]

I actually said 'the people I see having kids' I did not refer to anyone on this board. The people I see having kids are my friends and aquaintances in New Zealand and what I said is true, most of them have just had kids as a matter of course with very little if any thought as to the alternatives, believe me I have spoken with them about it often.

Well here is what I see.

Too many people who are trying to be conscious of their global surroundings who decide to not have kids for reasons such as:

• overpopulation
• The world is going to hell in a hand basket

What you've really done is deprived the world of a smart considerate person. You can bet your bottom dollar that the the dumb ass, lazy folks are breeding like crazy.

The world needs good people to have good kids.

[(+_+)]

I've got 3. 2 boys and 1 girl. For those of you that don't have any children, be prepared to start sacrificing on the toys you love. Don't get me wrong kids are great, but boy are they expensive. I used to upgrade at least once a year and now it's once every 2-3 years. My big screen 1080P TV keeps being moved to the back of the queue. You've got to love em though. 

Definitely sacrificing, sometimes literally.

About 3 years ago, my now 7YO son wanted to watch a DVD. He put it in, changed the video to DVD, but somehow managed to switch the audio to something else (with no active signal). He turned up the volume. Then he turned it up a little more. Repeat until volume is at infinity. Then he looked at the receiver and saw that the audio setting was not on DVD, so he pressed DVD ... at least it was loud enough that he won't ever do it again.

The next week, I replaced that nice receiver (which survived and is safely tucked away downstairs) with a cheap unit geared for stupid abuse (I traded an old microwave for it, so nothing out of pocket) and his twin sister did exactly the same thing.

The third kid never got a chance ... audio through TV only until I upgrade once I get my HD ... hey, Father's Day is coming ...

Cheers.

Oh ... that was 3 kids ... 7YO B/G and 4YO B.

I lost a video camera to similar abuse. Someone (never found out who, but definitely 1 of the 3) made it hit the floor so hard the rotating eye piece was torn right off. The reason I know it was a hard blow was it left a black plastic smear and dent on the hardwood floor.
Another time my daughter put a DVD in my laptop without locking it into place and it ended falling out of the DVD drive and into the laptop case. Had to have it opened up and removed. Then there's the never ending finger prints and scratches on my DVD collection.
The god knows what type of food that's caked on the various remotes. I could write volumes about the incidents. If anything, at least I've convinced them that telling the truth will set you free. Unfortunately, the video camera incident still remains a mystery.

[shorthair]

What you've really done is deprived the world of a smart considerate person. You can bet your bottom dollar that the the dumb ass, lazy folks are breeding like crazy.

The world needs good people to have good kids.

This is a legitimate point. I wouldn't feel any guilt over it, though. Balance can be hard to find.

[leapinlew]

Balance can be hard to find.

quit breeding shorthair. 

[shardian]

I have had two children - a little boy that is now in heaven and our 4 month old little girl. I wouldn't trade either experience for anything in the world. When it comes to having kids, it definitely helps if you and your spouse are on the same page. Me and my wife both were the youngest child in our respective families, and we both got crapped on by our respective parents and families on a regular basis. Thru our experiences, we both decided we wanted to have children and give them the deserved love that we never received. We share the same child-rearing beliefs, and we share the same affection for children in general. One day, we hope to adopt another child, and may consider having another naturally.

Personally, I have no problem with people choosing not to have children. If you feel you are not wanting to have children and take the necessary precautions to follow thru then kudo's to you.

Donkey Kong: First off, I think your story is really awesome. I can tell by talking with you and your wife that you are best friends, and that is the most important thing in a marriage - I can say that my wife is my best friend and I'm proud of it. Just curious though, did you all have your families support when you started out?

[Donkey_Kong]

Donkey Kong: First off, I think your story is really awesome. I can tell by talking with you and your wife that you are best friends, and that is the most important thing in a marriage - I can say that my wife is my best friend and I'm proud of it. Just curious though, did you all have your families support when you started out?

Thanks man. We appreciate that. We went against all odds and looking back wouldn't change much about it and no we didn't have a whole lot of support at all.   

One thing I need to say was that we actually had our first child at 17 & 19, and also got married at that age. My original post said we had our first son at 15 & 17...    Now that is young!!

[shorthair]

Balance can be hard to find.

quit breeding shorthair. 

Dude, seriously. (Heh.)


D_K: anything under 30 is just shades of young. Good that your situation worked out, but too young for most I think.

[Dexter]

Planning to start a family early next year, and all going well, hoping for two kids. We're both 32 and we're running out of time to be young enough to enjoy our kids childhood properly. Not really bothered about whether they're boys or girls, just as long as they're healthy.

[Howard_Casto]

Eh, I haven't done enough to have kids yet.  Some people think that having kids is a way of contributing to society and leaving the world with something after they are gone.  Personally I find that rather silly.  Kids are different people from their parents, and the world has plenty of them already.  For me one's legacy should be their works in life...  contributing to society, making the world a better place, all that stuff.  Once I feel my immortality is assured I'll consider it.  I'll probably be pretty old by then though, so I'll just adopt some ready-made kids with a few years on em so daddy doesn't have to worry about breaking a hip while playing a game of catch. 

Seriously though, me?  Kids?  Hah!

For anyone pondering, just ask your friends how they feel about it... Them laughing in your face is a bad sign. 

[Ed_McCarron]

(and they can't break the cabinets) ... 

You use Nintendo Sti...?  Uh, nevermind.

2 kids.  Love 'em.  A 3YO and a 8MO.  Boy and girl.  Hopefully thats it.  Speaking of fertility issues, kid #2 cost about $35K.  That HD TV may never arrive in my house.  On the other hand, we still have 2 fertilized eggs on ice.  The next one should be cheaper.

[RayB]

$35k!?!?
The dollar store has everything you need: thermometer & turkey baster. $2 plus tax!

This poll is flawed. There's a "none and happy" option, but no "have # and unhappy".

 

[ChadTower]

Makes me feel a little guilty that it took my wife and I about ten minutes for child #2.  Took longer to drink the beer.

[RayB]

Makes me feel a little guilty that it took my wife and I about ten minutes for child #2.  Took longer to drink the beer.

How many did you need?

[ChadTower]

It's not a question of need, man.  It's beer.

I've always theorized that if you removed beer from society, population levels would start to decline soon after.

[CCM]

Makes me feel a little guilty that it took my wife and I about ten minutes for child #2.  Took longer to drink the beer.

How many did you need?

A better question is how many did his wife need? 

I'm 35, wife is 37, no kids and not planning on any.  It's not that we don't like kids, we just like them in very small doses, we have plenty of friends with kids for that.   When they start to annoy me I can tell them to go away.

[Ed_McCarron]

$35k!?!?
The dollar store has everything you need: thermometer & turkey baster. $2 plus tax!

I wish.  Two ectopic pregnancies = no path from point A to point B.

On the other hand, I did get to give her multiple needles each night.  She was very nice to me for those few months.

If I was po'd about something, that needle went in just a bit harder than needed...

[ChadTower]

So they're calling it "needles" now, eh?

[shorthair]

If it ain't easy, nature is telling you something.

And need for beer?...ick. Sexual, or rather sensual, discourse is like a rider and a prize horse. They are equals, and have a chemistry that transcends.

CCM: ha, don't you know it. 'Go oon, git.' haeh haeh haeh.

[CheffoJeffo]

If it ain't easy, nature is telling you something.

And need for beer?...ick. Sexual, or rather sensual, discourse is like a rider and a prize horse. They are equals, and have a chemistry that transcends.

CCM: ha, don't you know it. 'Go oon, git.' haeh haeh haeh.

Horses are smelly.

[leapinlew]

All these people building bartops for dads makes me wish I had kids already.

[jbox]

If it ain't easy, nature is telling you something.

That it's going to take hard work and perseverance for any parent not to raise a self-centred 13 year old who posts such stunningly idiotic "me tarzan, you jane" nonsense from behind the safety of his sticky keyboard? 

[shorthair]

Ah, contraire. You mistake the context I spoke of. I meant the conception part, yo.

cheffo: well, metaphor aside, some people are kinky.

[bfauska]

Eh, I haven't done enough to have kids yet.

Ummmmmmmmm......... I think I read that the wrong way at first, but it was funnier before I figured out what you really meant.


Sorry Howard, It just looked funny when I read it so I had to say something.

[geomartin]

I have three kids, 17 and 15 year old boys, and a brand spankin' new 5 month old boy   (Mixed beer and a brand new convertible mustang that was purchased to celebrate the oldest getting his drivers license and taking my 2001 Mazda off my hands).  Actually having my new son has been great, I feel at least 10 years younger all of a sudden, and I have much more free time to enjoy a baby now than I did when I was young and building my "empire".

[jbox]

Ah, contraire. You mistake the context I spoke of. I meant the conception part, yo.

I did assume (correctly) that you were indeed being a based on your previous record of being mostly a about topics like this. Trying to sound "hip" in your reply just confirms I was right about you being (at least on this topic) a  .

[Ed_McCarron]

If it ain't easy, nature is telling you something.

It ain't easy dealing with you, but what nature is telling me is illegal in most countries.

I hate when this argument pops up.

I know what you are trolling for.

My wife had abdominal surgery at some point, and the adhesions effed up her fallopian tubes.  The surgeons fault, not natures.

We're good parents, genetically sound, and can easily afford to raise kids.

Meanwhile, the low-income mom down the street is popping kids out like pez, and we pay for it because shes too stupid to make her babydaddies use condoms.

Go figure.

[ChadTower]

I think he was referring to the beer as "necessity", which was a joke on my part.  I could be wrong but I doubt he was talking about the efforts of you and your wife.

[shardian]

I think he was referring to the beer as "necessity", which was a joke on my part.  I could be wrong but I doubt he was talking about the efforts of you and your wife.

No, the context was pretty clear on that one. If it were anyone else, I would have considered it a joke.

[ChadTower]

I must keep giving this guy too much benefit of the doubt.

[CheffoJeffo]

How can any of us really ever know what shorty is ever talking about ? In the rare event that he actually makes sense, he'll turn around and tell you that you misunderstood the context (remember what got him banned ? He told me that I misunderstood his use of that word.)

Ed -- having been through the fertility treatments (I ended up with two for the price of one, so it wasn't quite so bad pricewise), I understand where you are coming from and I took shorty's idiotic statement (that's not all that exclusive a description, is it?) the same way that you did.

Shorty -- nature is telling me the same thing that it has been telling me since you started your trollfest as tranq.

[Ed_McCarron]

No, the context was pretty clear on that one.

Yup.  I know what he was going after, and swore I wouldn't rise to the bait...  Stupid me.

Anyway, I'm having a ball teaching my 3YO about things.  Hes got my inquisitiveness, and loves to ask questions.  I get funny looks from people when he asks something and gets a serious answer.

We recently took him on the 'Jaws' ride at Universal in Florida... Scared the ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- out of him.  Instead of treating him like a 3 year old, I sat him down and explained that it was supposed to be scary, and showed him the control panel for the ride, explaining that it was much like the control panels I build for a living, and that people like being scared when they know that its pretend and can't hurt them.

He accepted this and got over the scare pretty quick.  A woman standing there watching the whole thing (kid going from crying, to sobbing, to asking calm questions in 2 minutes flat...) actually asked if I thought he understood all this, being not much more than a baby, my comment was that you'd be surprised what kids will learn if you treat them like small adults.

My son then chimed in that he understood it was all pretend and that the shark was fake and controlled by a computer.

The womans jaw almost hit the ground.  Worth every bit of trouble the kids have been so far. I've learned more about myself from watching him than I'd have learned anywhere else.

Still think we should have let nature win, Shorty?

[RayB]

It's not a question of need, man.  It's beer.

I've always theorized that if you removed beer from society, population levels would start to decline soon after.

Yeah, it's the beer goggles effect. That's why I was asking how many you needed.   

[ChadTower]

Like I said, not a need... but what is better than sex?  Sex with beer. 

[shorthair]

Ed: no bait to rise to. I made a statment. You can feel about it however you want. In this particular case all that was necessary was to impart that particular detail. (Although, I have a similar....opinion...about 'things' happening to people. A lot of those things don't happen to me cos I don't have that kind of energistic resonance. For example, despite the physical things I've done, I've never broken a bone.)

I never doubted, or intended to imply doubt, that you were capable. I agree with your idea on treatement. Curiously, earlier while fixing breakfast, this idea was in my mind: with my first ex, we used to cuss around her daughter. Then one day she got in trouble for it at school. I told her in much the same fashion that cussing wasn't necessarily bad, but that in the quality of one's expression one needs to understand it and understand how to use it. (Social propriety was secondary, but at least implicit. I forget if I covered that part.) She seemed to understand this and not use such language.

Chad: actually, sensual interaction is way better without any chemical substances.

jbox: what is this tool thing, anyway. I looked it up, and I didn't find the definition to be what you're alluding to. Come, lad, enlighten me. (I'd say lover, but you're just not as sexy as jeff. pshaw.)

jeff: historically, that word stems from that meaning. Again, you can be seduced by popcul's current demand of what the definition is, but that is your issue. (I may need to spank you, later.)

[shardian]

Ed: no bait to rise to. I made a statment. You can feel about it however you want. In this particular case all that was necessary was to impart that particular detail. (Although, such I have a similar....opinion...about 'things' happening to people. A lot of those things don't happen to me cos I don't have that kind of energistic resonance. For example, despite the physical things I've done, I've never broken a bone.)

Chad: actually, sensual interaction is way better without any chemical substances.

jbox: what is this tool thing, anyway. I looked it up, and I didn't find the definition to be what you're alluding to. Come, lad, enlighten me. (I'd say lover, but you're just not as sexy as jeff. pshaw.)

jeff: historically, that word stems from that meaning. Again, you can be seduced by popcul's current demand of what the definition is, but that is your issue. (I may need to spank you, later.)

So...ummm....is there a sexual harassment policy on this board?

[CheffoJeffo]

Ed: no bait to rise to. I made a statment. You can feel about it however you want. In this particular case all that was necessary was to impart that particular detail.

What is it with you ? You shoot your mouth off like an idiot about everybody and everything, spouting drivel from Little Hitler's Guide To Genetics And Natural Selection(tm). From what we have seen here, you are a sad little man who was afraid of the big arcade cabinets when he was a kid, can't breakdance, can't get his monitor to work, can't maintain a relationship, wants to live forever, wants to shoot his fellow soldiers and, thankfully, hasn't been able to procreate. You read a bunch of blogs and somehow think that makes you smart when you quote them back to us.

A lot of those things don't happen to me cos I don't have that kind of energistic resonance. For example, despite the physical things I've done, I've never broken a bone.)

Was this a plea for help ? I am available.

jeff: historically, that word stems from that meaning. Again, you can be seduced by popcul's current demand of what the definition is, but that is your issue. (I may need to spank you, later.)

Just stick to your lemon parties, shortpants.

 

[Chris G]

May I request "energistic resonance" and all such phrases be added to the filter?

[saint]

We'll probably crash the auto-filter.

[shorthair]

We'll probably crash the auto-filter.

HAHAHAHAH.

jeff: I like it when you're forceful. However, please refrain from calling me a man. It's not insulting, it's just not accurate. It's like this:

There's something inherent in me that evokes certain kinds of expression, not primarily to address to my audience, though that factor has some importance, but to discover and explore my intentions of expression.  It's similar I think to a musical composer: the visionary isn't concerned with audience. (For example, Conlon Nancarrow wrote pieces for player piano; literally he punched out the roles.) They're purely concerned with exploring their minds, and hearts, through musical structure. Naturally, as happened with harmonic vocabularies in music, this brings about behaviors that contrast with what is common. This educates me about modes of thought and helps augment my way of being. Of course, it would follow that some things would remain, particularly things outside of the normal cultural set.

On the tail of your last: you mistake the messenger for the message.

On the second part: good volley on the bone thing.

On your last: see, what a sexy beast you are. I really think there's a chemistry here.

[CheffoJeffo]

However, please refrain from calling me a man. It's not insulting, it's just not accurate.

Something we can agree on ...