Raising the next generation in this harsh world

Fair enough.

Thanks to everyone for the input and for taking a moment out of your day to weigh in. 🙂

I’m going to be blunt and completely honest here: if that’s truly how you feel, don't go having kids
at least not right now... You mentioned you're 25, and sure, maybe life will toughen you up a bit over time.
Perhaps in five or ten years, things will finally click into place and you'll realize when that moment arrives...

But if it never happens, please don't commit yourself to something you don't genuinely want, nor something
for which you aren't prepared to give everything and make the ultimate sacrifices
And that is exactly what children are.

Look, there’s nothing harsh about saying this—if anything, it’s something every parent needs to hear, especially those who treat raising kids like they're just picking out a kitten instead of taking on the most massive responsibility an adult can ever face.

At the end of the day, not everyone is cut out for it. I'll be the first to admit it: kids just aren't my thing, and I don't see myself as a father at all. I don't feel capable of it, and honestly, I don't see why that's an issue. It would actually be better if more people were self-aware enough to realize that. Instead, you have someone who has seven kids and then suddenly there's a flyer in your mailbox asking for donations because they can't make ends meet. They should be focusing on raising their kids, not struggling to take care of themselves.

To me, it's just mind-blowing. I’m the type of person who rarely jumps into anything without overthinking it and running through every scenario in my head a dozen times first. I mean, I practically analyze my grocery list three times before hitting the checkout, so seeing how easily some people just "dive in" to having kids is totally baffling to me.

If someone has nothing to offer their children—no stability, no lessons to teach, and they're already a total mess themselves—it might be better if they didn't have them in the first place. Seriously, get a cat or a dog instead; it’s a much smaller mistake than messing up a child's life.

bluemason3 said:What makes the world feel harsher today than it did 50—or even 100—years ago?

Well, sure, we’ve got all this incredible tech at our fingertips now, which basically means we're constantly plugged in and hyper-aware of everything happening everywhere.
The truth is, the world and its environments have always been pretty brutal, but I think these two things—tech and that constant stream of information—just act as massive amplifiers for the harshness we're already dealing with.

Has the world always been this brutal? Are we actually facing some modern-day barbarian invasion, or is it just a feeling?

Is our current reality any different from the Middle Ages, defined by constant warfare and plague?

Or was it just a century ago when people were dying from basic infections, fighting World Wars, or sharing cramped houses with entire extended families? Back then, global famines and massive epidemics were just part of the routine.

I don't think constant connectivity makes us more aware of how violent the world is. It just distorts our perception, making everything feel more intense than it actually is, even though things have drastically improved.

I honestly wouldn't want my kids to grow up in a world this brutal. Truth be told, I probably won't even have them.
Everyone is just chasing a paycheck these days. Genuine friendships? Gone. Food is basically junk, technology has us all on a leash, and people think having a $1,000 iPhone makes them someone $0.00... Not to mention how easy it is to end up broke if you're stuck living in a decaying American city like Detroit or Cleveland.

Anyway... looking back at the last 50 years, the only thing that’s actually "advanced" is tech, which really just means we've become slaves to the same old patterns. Honestly, what's even left that's intelligent about the internet?? And when it comes to actual quality of life... it's plummeted. It's just creating this massive wave of resentment. People aren't happy, and that's the bottom line—that should be the real metric for human progress.

Samuel Sanders6 said:I’ll try to keep this brief, and hopefully, I won't wander too far off track. I’m avoiding the Parenting subforum because I’m more interested in hearing from the younger crowd—those of you who might actually be considering starting a family in a few years.

This is a global question, though I suspect my own perspective is heavily colored by what we're seeing here in the States.

So, here it is: The big one. Do you actually want to bring one, two, three, or more children into this increasingly brutal world?

Now, don't get me wrong—I'm not claiming things were perfect in the past and everything is falling apart now. But if you look at the macro trends, we seem to be heading in a downward direction. Human connection is fraying, and the gap between the boss and the worker is widening; projections suggest we'll see even more billionaires and even more people living paycheck to paycheck.

We move from the grueling grind of modern education and those empty promises of upward mobility straight into a daily struggle just to stay afloat. Eventually, you find yourself asking why you're even working in the first place. Is it just to survive?

I think I’ve made my point. :P

Maybe someone beat me to the punch here, but if we’re looking at the actual facts, we are living better today than at any other point in history—and that’s not even counting all those fairy tales like Atlantis or the Garden of Eden. Beyond that, there's a practical reality we have to face: all we truly possess is the present moment. The past is gone and the future is out of our reach, so I suppose any moves we want to make have to be measured against where we stand right now.

How are you doing these days? If you had the chance to do it all over again, would you opt for having two or three kids—maybe even more? Would you be putting your money into Berkshire Hathaway stocks right now? Would you just quit your job, walk away from everything, and finally launch your own business? Or perhaps you’d sell off every single thing you own just to buy a little house tucked away in the Rocky Mountains, where you could sit back and watch the local eccentrics go about their day? Would you actually get off the couch, head out for a stroll through town, and grab a glass of wine—even if it meant dealing with a massive hangover later? My god, the heartburn alone...