In summary of chapter 11, it discussed the benefits and costs of raising a child, how mothers and fathers interact with their child in different and similar ways, fertility rates and the factors that effect them (such as population growth, advanced contraceptive use, medical advancements lower infant mortality rates, the econmy), the many reasons why we see people postponing having children and the disadvantanges and advantages that come along with bearing children at an older age, infertility--reasons, reactions, and solutions, adoption as a solution to infertility, the different kinds of adoption and the costs and benefits of each, the implications of genetically engineering your children, and the most controversial topic of them all: abortion.
It was very interesting to learn about the increased trend of people postponing parenthood and why many couples are doing so. Some reasons why people choose to put off parenthood till later in life includes careers, women don't want to be single working mothers, couples want to be financially sound before having children, and finally, couples living with parents put off parenthood to avoid crowded living conditions. I understand putting off the responsibility of becoming a parent until you get your feet on the ground and can actually make room and afford the cost of a child, but waiting until your well into your 30s and 40s just surprises me. It made me wonder why so many people are shooting for children at an older age especially when reading the passage talking about the different milestones of having children at an older age and then being so old that its questionable if you'd even get to see your children get married or meet your grandchildren because of old age and the fact that you could croak any moment at that rate. I guess it would just have to depend on when you have your children and how long you wait. There are benefits to postponing parenthood, but maybe not postponing it too long, which I got the impression from the passage from one of the author's students describing his relationship with his father who was able to spend more time with him because his father was retired when he was still growing up.
A very rather surprising statistic stuck out to me when reading about abortion. The book reports that "...of women who have abortions...27% are Catholic..." This stuck out to me because I am Catholic and in our faith it is considered wrong to have an abortion in any case, as I'm sure everyone is away considering the ongoing debates of abortion these days. That number is surprisingly high for a faith that practices against the concept of abortion. When thinking about this I considered the fact that people may identify themselves as Catholic or of any other religion based on how they were raised or based on what the rest of their family believes in, however they might not share the same beliefs--such as the right to an abortion which would lead to this statistic. It just bothers me that people will identify with a certain belief, but act against that belief structure.
One question I found interesting that was brought up in chapter 11 is, "should adoptive parents be allowed to change their minds after the adoption has been finalized?" The book provides the opinions of Americans gathered in a survey, but I am wondering what you all think about this and if our views as a class match those of the national survey. So, what do you guys think??
Personally, I think it's a tough decision to make if parents should be allowed to back out of an adoption. On one hand, I think that before people apply for an adoption they should be 100% sure that they want to go through with it, so they don't get a child's hope up of being adopted if they aren't willing to go through with it. But, on the other hand, if a couple decides they aren't ready, then it might be a bad idea to put a child in a position where the parents aren't ready to take care of them.
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