Um... that is to say, congratulations!

[flexagon]

*we are talking about breakfast on the way through the front door of Colubrid*

TBC: I'll be okay. I have string cheese in my backpack. When you're a parent you find yourself eating weird things for breakfast.

Other coworker who hasn't been mentioned before: I understand completely. I have three of them, and soon to be four now.

flexagon: Soon to be four?

Ocwhbmb: Yep.

flexagon: Jesus. Have fun with that.


Sigh... I used to keep such a tight watch on my mouth around here. Unfortunately, four just sounds so insane to me (in terms of lifestyle alone) that what I said didn't even trip my rudeness sensors until a few minutes later. I won't even go into the environmentalism of the thing. Who tells these people it's all right to triple the adult population of their family in the space of ~20 years!? They must be getting this idea from somewhere (edit: no pun originally intended on begetting). But never mind... we have infinite natural resources, and people in first world countries don't do much environmental damage anyway. Besides, lifespans are shortening in America, right? -- right! So I'm sure some old person just dropped dead to make space for your fourth little miracle. So, no worries. You aren't hurting anyone. Thanks for being responsible.

*headdesk*

Comments

[flexagon]

a) Of course you should be responding. I would feel quite ignored if I made a somewhat ranty, public post on a Friday and nobody commented. :)

b) Feeling guilty for having only one child is hilarious. Er, not to make fun of your guilt.

c) Birth rate is dropping in the US, but how do you think the death rate is doing, with the bulge of the baby boomers rising through the population chart like a rat through an anaconda -- and with centenarians being the fastest-growing population group in the US? You don't have to replace yourselves. If the world population were already at the perfect number (and that's quite debatable) you should focus on replacing the people who are dying (or the people who will die as your babies reach adulthood).

d) Birth rate is dropping in the US, but a) population isn't dropping yet, thanks to immigration and a low death rate and b) why must people in the US have enough babies to replace the people in the US? Other people continue to have quite enough babies to keep the species safe from extinction. They even continue to have extra babies for us to import if we want to.

e) And anyway, no worries, Ocwhbmb just made up for your laziness anyway, plus another couple just like you, as well as replacing himself and his wife. Go, Ocwhbmb! :)

Oddly, the more it becomes acceptable to be childfree and the more people do it, the more space does open up for people like Ocwhbmb and his family. If we go with the '2 children per 2 adults is good' theory, it only takes one CF couple to counterbalance them. It still seems like astonishing vanity and overconsumption to me, but there we go: just my viewpoint.

[flexagon]

(I just realized how evil it was of me to have an a and a b nested inside my d. Yay, alphabet soup! It seems I am not only feeling chattery, but outline-challenged too).