Homes should have children-but not too many! The number of children a couple will have is a personal matter, but it should be influenced by health, economic resources, and the world situation. Without any children, civilization would become extinct. Overpopulation is also a threat to human existence. Scientists are concerned about the balance in nature-between plants and animals, which are interdependent-and the problem of future production of adequate food for a doubled world population. Millions of people starving now or are experiencing malnutrition and subhuman existence because of insufficient diet. What will the situation be in twenty-five years if the world population doubles as predicted?
It is normal for couples to want and to have a children. God planned for children to be born when He built into the bodies of both man and woman as elaborate reproduction system. God commanded man and woman to reproduce: Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it". He place within the natures of man and woman the sexual desire which assures that they will mate. The most intimate and exquisite experience of true love is associated with the conception of children.
A primary purpose of marriage is to provide homes into which children can be born and nurtured. Homes without the blessings of boys and girls are empty. The father naturally longs for a son to love, train, and bear his name and a daughter to perpetuate the characteristics of his wife. The mother craves a child to cradle as her own looks forward to the time when her daughter and son will be old enough to appreciate the wealth of her love. Parents share in their children's joys as well as in their disappointments. They sacrifice in providing for their children, and thus, demonstrate unselfish love. They share in the instruction of their children and feel a sense of accomplishment when they succeed. Parents experience guilt and despair when they conclude that their neglect has contributed to the failure of a child.
Parents live are extended through their children. Their influence, teachings, and name are perpetuated through their descendants.
Number of Children desired
The number of children desired by a couple will vary according to background, or tradition, and current ciscumstances. Couples in the past desired numerous children because of the high date rate and because children meant additional workers for the family farm or business. Society was not then facing crucial ecological problems, depletion of fuel supplies, and inadequate food.
Of the more than four billion people in the world today, it is estimated that up to half are starving and ten of fifteen percent more are undernourished. Productive nations of the West consume eighty percent of the resources of the world, but millions of people in the overcrowded countries of the East are starving.
One reason for the population crisis is that modern medicine has reduced infant deaths and prolonged the lives of adults. In past centuries, plagues swept across nations and looks large numbers of people, preventing the rapid increase of population. Unless parents in underdeveloped countries, where population is increasing rapidly, learn about and practice birth control, the future will bring more widespread sufferings through starvation and death by disease. Responsible parents should desire to have children, but they should not want to contribute to the serious problems of overpopulation, which confront most nations, by having too many.
Birthrates are proportionately higher among the low-income groups than among high-imcome groups. University educated people have smaller families. Among religious groups, Catholics are more prolific than Protestants. Mixed marriages of Catholics and Protestants have fewer children.
The Catholic Church takes the position that the primary purpose of physical relationships is procreation. In 1930, Pope Pius XI stated that birth control is "unnatural and intrinsically evil and therefore not to be justified for any reason, however great."The only birth control allowed was refraining from intercourse during the fertile period. Protestants do not consider the use of contraceptives to be a normal issue. Rather, many are beginning to conclude that failure to use birth control devices is immoral.
Sensible family planning will allow most couples to have two or three children without endangering the survival of the human race or placing the home under undue strain. Some encouragement has come recently in a news release with the caption " Good News for the World- Population Growth on the Decline." The article did not say that population is declining, but rather that the rate of increase has slowed down. By the year 2000, population is now expected to increase from the present 4.1 billion to about 5.6 billion instead of the predicted 6.5 billion.
Planning for the First Child
Married couples generally encounter less strain in their relationships when they postpone parenthood until they have had time to work out some of their basic adjustments. Research has revealed that the divorce rate is higher among those couples who wait several months or years before beginning to have a children. A higher percentage of couples with unplanned pregnancies early in marriage make poorer marital adjustments than other couples. On the other hand, couples who desire children are the happiest in marriage. These situations support the Biblical teaching that one of the basic reasons for establishing a home is procreation.
Couples who plan to have children should not delay the beginning of their family for too many years. Children make many demands on parents, and parents are in better condition to meet them in their younger years. Also, a couple many discover after postponing pregnancy a number of years that they cannot have children of their own. Fertility decreases with age.
The Frequency of Pregnancies
Too frequent pregnancies are to be avoided for the sake of both the mother and the child. The amount of time between children will depend on the health of the mother and the conditions within the home. Medical opinion advises spacing children at least two years apart. More frequent pregnancies may cause harm to the mother's body which has to assume support for two persons during pregnancy and early childhood.
Certain medical conditions make pregnancy unadvisable. Diseases of the heart and kidneys, tuberculosis, diabetes, previous Caesarean sections, and certain types of psychopathic disorders make childbearings dangerous. Childbearing is, discouraged if a serious physical or mental disorder of the husband or wife might be transmitted to the offspring.
Psychological Preparation
God has decreed that babies are to be born into homes where love, security, and opportunity for Christian instruction exist. Emotionally stable parents have an inner warmth of compassion and desire for a baby. These instinctual desires are seen in the animal world as well. Birds build nests of selected material in preparation for their eggs and the hatching of the young. The mother cat keeps watch over and protects her kittens. A mother joyfully anticipates, plans for, and prays for the safe deliverance of her baby.
Planned conception guarantees a baby's being wanted by both parents. It is important that a baby experience love, warmth, protection, and adequate provision during its earliest stage. The first six years of a child's life determine almost completely his character thoughtout the rest of his life. An atmosphere of devotion to Christ, feelings of affection and respect between husband and wife, kindness, unselfness, and stability are important spiritual attitudes which should form the environment of the new child. Development of these attitudes must begin long before the birth of the child; they must be nurtured by husband and wife from the time of their union in marriage.
Let's have a
Hari
Blessings...
