Sometimes, love just isn’t enough
I refer to the letter “Have kids only for love” (my paper, July 17).
While I agree that the most important motivation for having children should rightfully be unconditional love, even the most die-hard of romantics would admit that no marriage or family can survive on love alone.
For many young married couples, it is exactly their strong love for their unborn children that prevents them from having kids when they are not financially confident of providing the best for them.
Unlike days of yore when, perhaps, providing a child with three simple meals a day and the teachings of moral values were enough to prepare them for the world, today’s society requires parents to be able to give much more.
The gift of life is not a gift to be taken lightly. It comes with great responsibility – being able to provide not only emotionally and mentally, but also financially, towards a child’s overall well-being.
Many married couples may want to have children, no doubt a decision that is sparked off by a deep love for each other and the desire to start a family.
But desire born out of love is not enough. Couples must still weigh the practical factors of having children, and they will want to make sure that they have the prerequisites for doing so in place, such as a loving relationship, a happy home, but also, the financial means to provide for a child’s physical needs, education and hopefully, be able to give them a good life.
After all, what loving parents will bring a child into the world only for him or her to suffer?
Therefore, financial incentives are only a catalyst to nudge married couples towards their child-raising decision, instead of being the main motivation for them to have children.
