After a whorl-wind 6 day trip back to the States for my 5 year college reunion, I'm back in Toulouse.
This article on a mother of 11 caught my eye tonight.
She was given the "Gold medal for large families" from the head of the Haute-Garonne department. The woman says she initially wanted 13 kids, but her life was fulfilled with just 11. While it was difficult, the older ones took care of the younger ones and her husband even helped out (what a guy!).
The whole award seems very archaic to say the least, but I also wonder about what kind of message it sends. Is having 11 kids truly an accomplishment? It's difficult of course, but I feel more the product of not doing something (as in using family planning) than making a strong commitment.
At the same time Europe is currently experiencing huge declines in reproduction, France excluded. Does this award have its place in encouraging families to maintain the population?
According to the official website for the award bronze is awarded for 4 to 5 kids, silver for 6 or 7, and gold for 8 or more. In the world of octa-mom, isn't having 8 or more children more a sign of a problem than an achievement?
The website defines the award as " a sign of confidence in life, a way of life promoting solidarity and gift of yourself, and a place were joys and sorrows that we share are multiplied" (my translation)
There's also a statistic: large families, 10% of the current population, 40% of the future generations.
I see that as a huge problem. If everyone starts having 4 or more children the world is going to have even more problems than it currently has. Over demand of natural resources anyone? How about capping the award at 9 kids? Anymore and you lose out.
2 comments:
Interesting post, I read an articile a long while back (I think around the octo-mom era) about discrimination against big families in the US especially against the moms (i.e. people making rude remarks during their pregnancies such as "oh, wow, ANOTHER kid???" etc..) it could be an interesting contrepoint to this article. But still - I'm with you on the fact that this is really not a "sustainable" lifestyle.
One of my neighbor's is pregnant - by accident - with her 9th kid. Two of the kids are in foster care and none of the kids go on vacation, to day camp or do any activities outside of school because they have no money. So, I think being an otca-mom is some sort of accomplishment, but not necessarily a positive one.
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