A Child As an Investment In The Filipino Family: Let Us End This
Let us end the cycle of children carrying the burden of their parents and raising the whole family. In Filipino typical life, it is not new to find a breadwinner inside the family. Most often they are the eldest of the family and they have been loaded with lots of responsibility, from supporting financial aspect of the family up to the studies of every siblings.
Being the first child in the Filipino family means the success of your whole family depends on you.
If you are the first born, you need to get ready yourself because you need to become a strong and independent person to help your family one day. There is nothing bad in helping your family but in these situations happening in Filipino life, the parent expect their child to raise them and support the family financially which is what the child should not do because they also have to build their own life. Some work overseas to support the family financially, to build the house and to finish all the siblings in their studies. This is the reason why, most of the Filipino breadwinners, doesn't get married even they're close to 40s because they have chose to work on their responsibility of the family.
But is it the responsibility of the child to raise the whole family?
That is why we have a mother and a father. A mother who will take care the child at home and a father who will work to support the family. But in Filipino life, the child work hard to raise the family endlessly. This is so sweet of our children in the country right. During these times, it already become a norm that a child should raise the family and it is already expected that being the first child means your salary should be given to your family.
The reason why I disagree for a child as an investment is because a parent shouldn't expect their child to raise the family. There is even a saying here that the more child you have, the more blessings you will have in the future. Yes, it is a blessing in the future indeed but in what way do you call it as a blessing?
It is also worrying to see that due to this pandemic, the unplanned children inside the family are increasing. The most horrible is that majority of them are still young to start a family and have children with. Teenage pregnancy is a big problem because how can a young one raise a young one too especially when there are still no financial source? This is a serious problem. Everyone must learn that building a family is not playing a game. Marriage is not for fun. Children are not just offspring.
There is no breadwinner if..
There is no breadwinner in the whole family if the parents planned their marriage first before entering into a wedlock. If they have work hard enough and save for the family. If they have control the amount of their child. If they have just planned everything before building a family then I guess there is no first born child carrying the responsibility as if the whole world was laid upon its shoulder.
Do you think in the future this will end? It is a wrong mindset we have that one day our child will take us out from the chain of poverty. This is the reason why it's hard to live a good life because we love to enter a family life dreaming of many children who will support us one day. We need to learn educating everyone about building a stable family. Do not rely your future to the child. It's time to wake up that kids are not a physical investment for future stability in life. This cycle must end and let the children build their own future one day too.
February 9, 2022
Kinda lucky my mom doesn't have this mindset but my dad still harbours this mindset since he's ancient and so narrow minded. He flips out on us when we don't lend or give him money. He never pays us back though since he says we lack gratitude for being in this world when none of us honestly don't want us to be alive