The different viewpoints of raising children

    I think that the two excerpts from Colonize This contrast very nicely to Valenti's article about not wanting children. The former highlighted situations in which children were not only wanted but needed, while the latter focused on situations where children were a choice that did not affect the fiscal survival of the family unit. Thus, we were able to view two very different vantage points and the entailments of each one.
    To begin, the statistics about parents abandoning their children given by Valenti's article were simply horrifying. I think they served to bolster one of Valenti's points, being that some people simply are not fit to have children. To become a parent requires a certain element of emotional maturity that simply must be present to yield successful and happy results. People such as the women who, "would run to the abortion clinic if she got pregnant again" certainly lack this emotional maturity. Parents with this mindset create awful environments for their children to grow up in. Their children receive less attention, less resources, and less love. In short, people should not be demonized for choosing not to have children. This decision instead is probably for the best for some, because to raise a child in an environment where they are unwanted breeds problems for everyone involved. We must break apart from the view that having children is necessary, for no child should enter this world only to be regretted by its parents.
    Yet, we were presented with cases in which children were necessary. I was very struck by González-Martínez's statement that Dominican women had daughters as a form of social security. These women were locked in generational cycles, where daughters aided mothers until it was time for them to be aided by their own daughters. This is an example in which the system itself is inherently broken. It forces women to have daughters, even those who do not fit into the category of people who want children and are emotionally mature enough to handle them. Thus, this becomes another situation in which individuals are not to blame. While it may seem like they are doing a disservice to their children and should be chastised for that, they are simply doing what society has locked them into having to do.
    I think that Lantigua's piece touched on some points about which I feel very confused. To be frank, I don't know how I feel about the statement, "don't have children if you can't afford them." On the one hand, I believe in any person's right to raise a child if they want to and are emotionally capable. On the other hand, it is unfair to bring children into a world in which they will have to work at the age of 13 and take care of their siblings as if they were their parent. The piece shows a situation where children were certainly wanted, but became overburdened with the amount they had to contribute to the family. I honestly leave this piece without a clear opinion on the matter - Is it right to bring children into the world knowing how difficult it will be to raise them? Does the hope of sending them to college to better their own lives justify the extreme difficulties they will face? These are the questions that I am left with.