Luthien Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 [url="http://health.msn.com/pregnancy/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100243083>1=31036"]The Belly Rubbing High[/url] Maybe I shouldn't read this stuff, especially pregnant. I love how the desire for having children is just chalked up to women's insecurities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatherineM Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 Sounds like the octomom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
princessgianna Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 That was the biggest laugh I have had all day! ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luthien Posted August 12, 2009 Author Share Posted August 12, 2009 [quote name='CatherineM' post='1946652' date='Aug 12 2009, 01:16 AM']Sounds like the octomom.[/quote] They do mention her in the article...because she's just such a wonderful representation of women who have more than two kids. I love how they make women who actually ENJOY having children look like freaks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sojourner Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 I dunno ... the author seem to distinguish between having children for healthy reasons and having children to "fill a void." I don't think they're making a blanket statement about all women who want to have children, or even about all women who want to have large numbers of children. I lived with a woman who had a child for (in my opinion) exactly the reasons outlined in the article -- wanting attention, needing someone to love her unconditionally, etc. I think it happens more often than we'd like to think, actually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
princessgianna Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 ...and the author also naturally forgot to add about the possibility of a couple doing God's will and being open to life!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missionseeker Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 [quote name='Terra Firma' post='1946675' date='Aug 11 2009, 10:37 PM']I dunno ... the author seem to distinguish between having children for healthy reasons and having children to "fill a void." I don't think they're making a blanket statement about all women who want to have children, or even about all women who want to have large numbers of children. I lived with a woman who had a child for (in my opinion) exactly the reasons outlined in the article -- wanting attention, needing someone to love her unconditionally, etc. I think it happens more often than we'd like to think, actually.[/quote] you mean like this woman? [url="http://news.aol.com/health/article/72-year-old-ivf-pregnancy/571249"]http://news.aol.com/health/article/72-year...regnancy/571249[/url] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luthien Posted August 12, 2009 Author Share Posted August 12, 2009 [quote name='Terra Firma' post='1946675' date='Aug 12 2009, 01:37 AM']I dunno ... the author seem to distinguish between having children for healthy reasons and having children to "fill a void." I don't think they're making a blanket statement about all women who want to have children, or even about all women who want to have large numbers of children. I lived with a woman who had a child for (in my opinion) exactly the reasons outlined in the article -- wanting attention, needing someone to love her unconditionally, etc. I think it happens more often than we'd like to think, actually.[/quote] I'm sure there are, but this article just encourages an anti-life/family mentality. I suppose I didn't see a distinction, not an obvious one anyway. Wonder if women did get pregnant for some of those reasons, but there was more to it than them just wanting attention? You know what I mean? The desire to have children could contain some of those supposed negative things without being considered some sort of addiction. I think the author makes a whole lot of assumptions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
princessgianna Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 (edited) [quote]Brown said she waited until later in life to try to conceive because she had been busy pursuing various academic degrees when she was younger.[/quote] There you go! \You can't have it all, My mom has never regretted "holding off children" because of her career. Actually she gave that up when the oldest was born. EDIT: My mom has also said that "women naturally want to have children. It's a natural yearning". And it makes sense because they are the ones that have the babies and are the main caregivers for the reproduction of mankind. Edited August 12, 2009 by princessgianna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sojourner Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 (edited) [quote name='Luthien' post='1946691' date='Aug 11 2009, 11:46 PM']I'm sure there are, but this article just encourages an anti-life/family mentality. I suppose I didn't see a distinction, not an obvious one anyway. Wonder if women did get pregnant for some of those reasons, but there was more to it than them just wanting attention? You know what I mean? The desire to have children could contain some of those supposed negative things without being considered some sort of addiction. I think the author makes a whole lot of assumptions.[/quote] Well, to be fair, the purpose of the article is to highlight being "addicted to having babies," as it says in the subtitle. And, in the introduction, after highlighting the fact that we're having more babies than ever, the author mentions first a mom with healthy reasons for having a large family: [quote]Still, certain mothers, like 31-year-old Meagan Francis, who is raising her flock of five in Michigan, have big broods because that's what they're used to. "I grew up in a relatively large family and always loved having lots of people around," she says. "So it's natural that I'd try to re-create that experience with my own family."[/quote] then, moves into the focus of the article: [quote]But it's not always quite so simple, psychologists say. Some women may like being pregnant a little too much, often driven to rapidly reproduce out of insecurity, a craving for attention, or feelings of abandonment by their own parents.[/quote] Then, the end of the article encourages women to be self-evaluative of their desires for pregnancy: [quote]Figuring out the right number of kids to have is a personal decision, to be sure. And not all women with lots of children are bumpaholics. [b]But an important question for pregnancy-craving mothers to ask themselves is why they want more children, Weil says.[/b] Are you having them because you don't want to deal with your husband? Or so you don't have to go back to work? Or because you love the attention? Nadya Suleman, for one, is blunt about the fact that she got pregnant to fulfill an emotional need. As she reportedly told one journalist, "I just longed for certain attachments with another person that I really lacked." ... If you do find yourself feeling a void as your bundle of joy becomes a toddler, "that's a good sign that it's time to look in the mirror and figure out what's going on with you," says Ann Pleshette Murphy, author of "The Seven Stages of Motherhood: Loving Your Life Without Losing Your Mind."[/quote] Honestly, I think the author is spot on in her analysis. She is not saying that all women who want children or large families are doing so out of selfish reasons, but pointing out that there can be issues with the misguided desire to have children. I think that desire can be twisted both inside and outside marriage. And frankly, I think it IS important that parents carefully discern why they want children and whether actively seeking a pregnancy at a given point is the right thing to do or not. Catholics are encouraged to practice "responsible parenthood," part of which, in my view, means examining one's motives not only for avoiding pregnancy but also for seeking it. I don't think what she's advocating is antithetical to the discernment process parents should be going through -- particularly when only one parent is involved, as in several examples she notes. Edited August 12, 2009 by Terra Firma Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatherineM Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 I never really felt that call to have children. I've been taking care of other people's kids since I was 10 years old, and just never "felt" it. When we were trying to get our wedding rescheduled, one of the issues my inlaws brought up is that I just wanted to marry Austin so I could have a child before it is too late. Our priest called my brother back in Oklahoma to check that out, and my dear brother told him that if he was hearing someone's biological clock going off, it must belong to a neighbor because he was pretty sure that I was born without one. He had to sit down when he heard I'd gotten engaged. I guess he got used to saying his little sister the old maid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
princessgianna Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 [quote name='Terra Firma' post='1946705' date='Aug 11 2009, 11:01 PM']Well, to be fair, the purpose of the article is to highlight being "addicted to having babies," as it says in the subtitle. And, in the introduction, after highlighting the fact that we're having more babies than ever, the author mentions first a mom with healthy reasons for having a large family:[/quote] Yet we still aren't having enough children. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sojourner Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 [quote name='princessgianna' post='1946720' date='Aug 12 2009, 12:10 AM']Yet we still aren't having enough children. [/quote] Well, ok, but that's not the point of the article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
princessgianna Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 [quote name='Terra Firma' post='1946724' date='Aug 11 2009, 11:11 PM']Well, ok, but that's not the point of the article.[/quote] Just making sure that its understood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sojourner Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 [quote name='princessgianna' post='1946741' date='Aug 12 2009, 12:17 AM']Just making sure that its understood. [/quote] Seriously? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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