craftymama
All I can say is that it is interesting that you have to have a licence to drive, at least a high school degree or GED to work, meet certain guidelines for government assistance or to be concidered handicapped, etc... but yet nothing "official" is required to be a parent? Hmm... let me contemplate the logic on that one.
I've thought that numerous times myself, and wholeheartedly laughed at a bumper sticker I saw once that read "Stupid people shouldn't breed". The people who lived upstairs from us before we moved had a child who wasn't even old enough for preschool and the smell of their marajuhana (sp?) wafted down from their balcony through our open windows while he was awake and home and exposed to it. We were also home only half the time but plenty of times heard the woman screaming, swearing, and slamming doors at someone, the kid running around and jumping not only on the bed but off furniture, landing with a bang on the floor. The whole situation was disturbing and had we thought it would do any good we would have called child services. sad Problem is for the same reason kids don't come with instructions, one can never be completely prepared for all the aspects of parenting beforehand.
And yeah, but we're not married just yet, and my fiance isn't done with his schooling yet either. He's set up to start his Plumbing Apprenticeship after completing school, and we're thinking we'll look at having kids when that happens. I had originally wanted to own a house first but it's going to take years with how much the housing market costs here. Everyone I know who is my age still lives with their parents -actually one of my friends did just move out, but only just a few months ago, and she still goes to her parents house to do laundry- I'm 23 and my fiance is 24, we've been together for 4 years, it's just frustrating to look at people I know and see that they don't seem to afford a home or start having kids until they're 30+, and I don't want to wait 7 years. sweatdrop My only comfort on that thought is they're also the people who spent their early 20's partying and wasting their money on copious amounts of alcohol, so since neither my fiance nor I are doing that stuff we will likely get to the good part of life sooner.
