Good words of wisdom. The wife-Thanks

Wish we could get the same good words of wisdom to bring down these gas prices soon.

I really meant to say, “I love YOU, Daddy”. Kctenac16, when you are ready to settle down and if you make the decision to have children, there will be many rewards. Being a parent is very rewarding. Of course, there are heartaches but you have heartaches along any path that you take. Working4u also made a wise decision not to become a Father. He is living the life he wants to live. If a man is not ready for a child or doesn’t want one, he could blame that child for not having things he wants. If he resented the child, he would make a poor parent anyway.

yea, i can for now. i’ll be graduating in december so hopefully gas wont go up to much before then.

kctenac-You seem to have a good head on your shoulders. Continue to think ahead and be very cautious as this economy can rock your world with one bad move. Sounds to me like you can afford to drive.

The wife-As life has progressed for me I absolutely do not miss any of those things or even had the thought cross my mind. I have nieces and what I get from their parents are “we cant do this and we cant afford that"," I cant go there and she want let me do that” or “I am behind on my child support and I might go to jail”. But I am perfectly aware that the rewards are there. I never at all said there is anything wrong with having children. I just know it must be an additional stuggle with fuel cost right now.

Carl-I had three adopted brothers. Of course we are older adults now. We all saw how our parents stuggled and at times without a nickle to rub. Our folks,like you, had no regrets. That was 45 years ago. I applaude you and others that stepped up or step up to the plate to adopt or raise a needy child. Unfortunately the somewhat affordable standard of raising children 20 to 45 years ago has passed. I do encourage young folks today to be more careful and extremley cautious in making potential life altering choices. It is very important for kids to understand the sacrafices involved with some choices and the rewards for other choices.

working4u, i agree with you. Im in my early 20s and a kid right now would be disastrous. I love my life, i have a great girl, we have nothing tying us down, we have a great time every weekend, we jump when we want to jump, relax when we want to relax. Do we have all the money in the world? Of course not, were in college and working part-time. But we have a blast on what we do make and are enjoying the hell out of life. In 8-10 years I could see having some kids, but right now, NO!

working4u, you will also never hear “I love Daddy” from one of those precious children you refer to as cookie crunchers. You won’t get the hugs. You won’t enjoy the giggles and the laughter. You won’t be there to share special moments in their lives or witness the excitement that life brings to them. There are a lot of hard times but just being together can be as rewarding to us, as your freedom and using your money on yourself, are to you. Enjoy yourself your way. My choice is to watch them play, giggle, and have fun. Their really tough times are ahead of them. As adults, they will have more on their shoulders than we now have. They need to be carefree now and enjoy life while they can. I am thankful to be able to see through their innocent eyes, listen to their honesty and show them the unconditional love which is returned ten fold.

Well WORKING4YOU, To each his own, that is your choice and freedom. That’s what we served our country for ,wasn’t it? Other than our own three kids, me and the wife have raised a number of kids from birth to in some cases their first 8 years of life, of no blood kin to us. And at no cost to any other tax payer. We’ve never been paid a nickle for any of these kids, state or federal, That’s probably why we don’t have two nickels to rub together now. Do we regret it?. Of course not, It was our choice. Every one has their own choices to make and I don’t hold any grudges for anyone doing as you said for your selves, Go spend that money if you got it and help the economy out and save a few jobs for our kids during these dire economic times.

I do hate for folks that have kids that live at home. A sudden increase in the price of food and gas has got to be a big ouch. I hope this is a wake up call for youngsters and teens in this new era of high energy cost. Having children that you cannot afford is a major life mistake. I would much rather be able to fill my boat up with gas, go to the casinos for a good time, party hardy, and live comfortably with nice things all my life than spend that money on diapers, formula, child care, cloths, school and all of the other major draining expences of having cookie crunchers. I will tell you from first hand experience it is one very cool way to live in today’s society. No worries and all fun for number one. Some call it selfish and I call it heaven.