Wow my amazing brothers and sisters of Steem! Go you! I can hardly believe both the quality and quantity of the responses we got to this week's question! It HAS been an education for me in many ways. You guys somehow all manage to bring in a different perspective on things, and there are some really different opinions on the matter! I’m REALLY happy that those of you who were nervous to write and post because you may have a controversial viewpoint still posted! I’m really impressed with the respect and space we are giving each other to share our own views. That's the way to do it guys!

This week there is definitely a common thread amongst all of us, and that is that no matter what our personal choices are, we give others the freedom and space to make theirs. This is obviously so important as if no one had kids we would be finished, and if Everyone had kids we likewise would quickly overpopulate the world with the way we relate to it today. So balance is the key, and if you read the posts below you will see that we have all found our own balance in life. Some of us, like myself, have never had kids. For me it is just circumstantial, i have actually always wanted children but so far at least life has had other things for me to do. I know of a few people who's life would not have been possible had they had children, and they are often the people who give and serve the world in the way that is unique to them.

Another common, but not unanimous, view amongst is that things really are not that much worse than they have always been. These are troubled times, but if I look back it seems its always been troubled times no matter how far you go in modern history. Of course this depends on what you define as troubled times, and for children it may be fair to say that things have never been harder for them. What so many of us pointed out is that good parenting is SO important, and if you are going to bring a child into the world today, we have to really do the work and be there for them so that they can get the time, love and support they need to be happy healthy children.

It is possible for children to have an incredible life even in these troubled times. In fact, no sooner had i finished writing my post on this QOTW when literally two hours later a Crystal Child turned up at my house along with a band of 8 other people from various countries. They came with a friend I know called AUM, and he is something like a Crystal Uncle ;-) I had just been writing about the Crystal children in my post, and why I think it is in fact the children who will save us! The moment i met this young British man I was very intrigued by him. He was just 19 years old but was living in a remote part of south India doing amazing things and pioneering projects. He was the kind of kid who was going to have an amazing life, I could tell that from just 1 minute of talking to him. He had a magnetic personality, and as we spent more time chatting and finally having a beautiful impromptu jam in the earthship... it was clear that he was the most beautiful, balanced, genius of a child that i had met in a long time, if ever. He had no ego, he spoke with his heart, and everyone listened when he spoke. He was very relaxed, playful, witty, and the most interesting person to talk with. When we jammed, he Rocked the house and he sang and played guitar like a rock star! He was the kind of kid you would find being given a golden buzzer on Pop Idol! Complete genius, totally authentic and natural, and when i mentioned him to my friends who live here, we all agreed immediately, this was NO ordinary kid!

So, thank you ALL for taking part, thank G-d you all posted over the course of 9 days because i sure had a lot of reading to do. I read every post, and tried to comment on them all too. If I didn't comment then apologies, it was hard to keep track at a certain point! Also if i missed your post please let me know, most likely reason is if you didn't link it in the comments of my launch post.

It always impossible to choose the best post, or even my favourite post, but I would like to share this post first from @likedeeler. His posts are always such fun to read, and always hard hitting. He is also one of our first ever ecoTrain passengers and has helped SO many people with his generous heart and gifts to those in need.

@likedeeler

Children crusading for a better world

Up until about two years ago I would have said bad idea, but now we got the @ecotrain, making the world a better place, so deliver away, ladies!😘

I have reached an age now, where I can join into every older generation´s favorite pasttime since times immemorial, bitching about the younger generation and how awful they are.

When I was young, the motto was "No future!",
now it is "Fridays for future", how pathetic!

Entitled brats, who haven´t walked to school a single day in their life, but are being chauffeured every day by their helicopter moms in a fancy SUV.
When they are finished with saving the fucking climate, taking lots of selfies while doing so, with their smartphones for which children died in Africa, the place where they panicked is littered with chain crap-to-go-cups, chain crap-food-containers and other shit.
Even Angela Merkel has shown her appreciation for those kids.

I don´t know.
If we would have been praised by some old politician, not that we ever were, we would have been deeply suspicious, those idiots feel empowered by this crap.
But like any religion, the Church of Climatology consists of some saints, like Greta Thunberg, the Jean d´Arc of climate change, and thousands of useful idiots, the believers.
The world has always been an awful place to have kids, the times were always troubled.

@stortebeker

Having Children in Tough Times - A Dark Perspective

In its weekly question @ecotrain wants to know whether we think it's a good or bad idea to bring children into this world in these troubled times? It seems like many of us have pondered this a lot, myself included. It's not an easy question, as there are so many sides to it. As for my wife and myself, we are both forty, and are perfectly fine without kids, even though we came to this decision without any underlying socio-political causes. However, in my theoretical reasoning I'd still take the side of bad idea - though at the same time I believe it's first and foremost up to each individual, so the last thing I'd expect is others to follow my reasons. All I want to do is present what makes sense to me:

@hafizullah

Hello Friends,
Good Morning all!

This is first time I am participating in the Weekly Question of @ecoTrain.

It acknowledged that the modern technology of the world, new inventions, all the innovations of a better life, could not make our world as safe enough. Given the opportunity to enjoy our life more and more, but on the opposite side, the world is taken to the edge of destruction. Destroying the green phenomenon and destroying the environment, in addition to climate problems, could not make us safer, better, healthier than our ancestors.

So we'll stop? The next generation will not come forward? Problems are going up, so we should back? Or to find ways to solve the problem by going ahead? Not to be stopped or backed up, but rather to find solutions, to move forward with the new generation.

@riverflows

People always asked my man and I if we were going to have a kid together. Having had my maternal clock tick noisily at 25, leading to a pregnancy to a man I didn't love, I knew what it was like to long for a child, and knew what it was to love one so. Though I loved my boy beyond all reason, my wings had been clipped slightly. I knew how much a child would throw this brilliant new love into another dimension, bind us into some other contract I didn't want. My man wrapped me in his warm embrace and said that our baby was our love, quite possibly the corniest thing he'd ever said before or since, but a beautiful answer.

We didn't need a child to fulfil us, despite expectations from society. He particularly felt that there were enough children in the world already, and enough problems with overpopulation and all the disasters that brings, so it was our responsibility to not add to that. Besides, we wanted to travel, and wanted certain freedoms that another child would just not quite work.

@bewithbreath

Have you voted? Hmmm…… For me answer depends on how we have let our mind to be programmed. And on this front, I am with former VP of facebook, Chamath Palihapitiya: we don't realize but we are being programmed not just what to think but also how and why to think. I can hear you disagree – "Get off, I'm an independent thinker. I don't let anyone decide what I think."I truly hope you are right. Maybe I'm just naïve boy who believe everything he reads or hears…. Or may be I just don't believe anything …who knows.

@vibesforlife

I believe its definitely a good idea to bring children into this world at any point of time. Be it today, be it tomorrow.

The world is in trouble, no doubts. Since the evolution of mankind on planet Earth, each day is a add on for number of rapes, child abuses, human trafficking, violence and the worst imaginable. The number is increasing every single day. But all these negative scenarios happen due to human beings who are psychologically & emotionally sick hence they end up making the world a bad place.

Let me tell you something very simple and right :

The solution for heat is cold.
The solution for darkness is light.
The solution of a bad thought is to replace it with a good thought.

Just in this manner, the solution of bad people is good people.

@minismallholding

The @ecotrain question of the week is “do you think it a good or bad idea to bring children into the world in these troubled times?” Interestingly enough, this is something I've often pondered. I have two beautiful girls and they have been a blessing to me, but I didn't always want to have children.

Growing up, as I started to see the hardships in the world around me and the cruelty inflicted by others, I came to the conclusion that it would be cruel to bring a child into this world. I didn't have the smoothest of childhoods anyway, particularly as puberty approached, so why would I want any other child to have to try and deal with this?

@artemislives

It's the ultimate arrogance - and maybe the ultimate stupidity - to have and raise a child who will be just like you. The assumption that you are the best version of Human there is, and that our world needs More People Like You, is fundamentally flawed. But it remains the dream, and, tragically, the norm for so many.

The world around us is troubled on so many levels. One just needs to flick over to an online news channel to see how broken we collectively are - from species extinction, pollution, deforestation and environmental poisoning to armed conflicts, refugee crises, violence, suicide, cancers and depression. Collectively, generally, globally, we're not in great shape.

@metametheus

I'm going to declare here that I have a daughter. And for all the stress and anxiety that comes with being a parent of a daughter in today's day and age, I wouldn't change it for the world.

Yes, I've had to make sacrifices and changes in my life. It has meant I haven't been able to travel like I used to. It has meant I haven't been able to always do what I have wanted to do with my life (although I also have to acknowledge that I've done this better than many other people around me).

But it's also meant that I haven't consumed like I probably would have done were I single and care-free.

Being a parent meant that her mother and I were acutely aware of the kind of legacy we would be leaving for her and any (possible) future grandchildren. What values do we teach our daughter? How do we engage in the world, with the environment, with the economics of our time?

@vander

is it good for the children? Even my mother said to me " if I knew it would be such a world, I am not sure I would have had children" and apologized for putting me onto this world...I think it is fairly negative emotion, that comes from disillusion; having lived through a time where the two major paradigms of our agehave failed: Capitalism After the second world war there was massive growth: in population, in income, in welfare. This has not led to the utopia people were promised and it looks like it is reaching its end in Western Europe, whilst in growing and emerging countries it puts a strain an health and resources.

Socialism
As a counter movement and I mainly mean the social movements from the 1960ies and 70ies, it presented an alternative to capitalism.

@walkerland

Raising Children in Troubled Times

My brother, who is rather sour and nine years older than me always declared that he was never having children. He frequently declared that it would be wrong to bring them into this terrible world. My uncle declared much the same. Their voices rang in my ears leaving me to wonder about it all from quite an early age.

Of course, that didn't stop me from becoming a mother. To the absolute horror of all of those related to me, I was barely an adult when I had my son. Admittedly there was no planning involved in this "project" of mine. I was promptly disowned for a time (irrational programming from another era) and I was quietly forgiven once the dust settled. Although becoming a mother had not been in my immediate plans, I took to mothering like it was my destiny.

@steemflow

While I started writing the first thought that flashes into my mind and also once told by my friend is "No Day is Good or Bad, It is all about our Mentality" Considering this short phrase, I would say we can not decide about the future , looking at the current time we are in which is pretty challenging and troubled, making our future uncertain. But putting a restriction on bringing up the child is not a sensible thing. Just imagine, what if we're too not brought up in this world looking at the hard times our parents had faced. We would not have been into this scientific modern digital world we are enjoying currently.

@porters

I am a mother and a grandmother and that has been a big part of my life, making me a much different person than if I would have remained childless. That being said, do I need to have kids to know motherly love and what it is to put someone else's needs above your own?

I divorced the father of my child but I still had a yearning to have another child with all they bought out of me.
Again going back to - could that have happened in other ways? I think it can but it seems to need to be triggered by something to make it happen.

@trucklife-family

We, as in the human race, have no future in this world if we do not have children. It is all well and good to say that we need to reduce the population, that the resources within the world are being extinguished at alarming rates now. But really who are the ones that are using the most resources, I doubt very much that it is the countries that have the highest populations. Because these countries tend to be the poorest. It is those that are living more comfortably that use up more. It is this culture of greed that needs to change.

It is the way in which so many are living that needs to change. Whether we stop having children, is really not going to make such a huge difference, unless of course we all stop procreating and allow the human race to become extinct.

We are living in times where it is common practice to look to others to blame, to point the finger, to allow ourselves to become tied up in conversations and debates whilst all the time the bigger issues are being swept under the table. So lets point the blame at procreation and our selfishness at wanting what comes naturally to so many of us. I mean why do we have reproductive organs? If not to reproduce.

@thistle-rock

 knew a long time ago I would not have children of my own, in fact, I was a child myself but there was no question in my mind that it would be so.

As I grew into my teen years, I did my time babysitting to raise a bit of money, as every teenager does.

This babysitting "job" did not change my mind... in fact, I hated every moment of it!

Let me say here, I do not hate children. In fact, when I was a member of a sports group, we would always plan our family parties. It was always left up to me to plan it because I always made sure that the children would have the "best time ever". I would plan races and games and make pinatas.

@eaglespirit

As a young girl of no more than five years old, I had always wanted children. Many children, okay three tops, but for an only child that was a lot. Growing up in a very large family filled with cousins, aunts, uncles, and generations of have at least eight children in the family and be an only child was awkward. From a young age I was changing diapers, feeding, and helping my aunts take care of their babies. It was only natural to want my own, until one day I just got tired of taking care of children.

It was then that society started advertising Missing children and it occurred in my young mind that I would never want to live through something that tragic. Having one of my babies stolen.

@steelborne

The Decision Around Procreation in Today's World...

Let me begin this post with the statement that "choice" is one of the most powerful known abilities of the human race...

Within the human experience there may be no other currently known or more powerful abilities than free will. Choice applies to many known aspects of the human existence and it is perhaps the most controlled mechanisms we have within this earthly life. Not everyone believes in free will, but I happen to believe that free will is what drives our destiny. While we all have a destiny - it is the power of our choices that determine that destiny. Free will and destiny are forever intertwined by our choices we make every day. Destiny is never decided from the inception of mankind. Our everyday choice is what carries us towards our decided destiny.

@nainaztengra

Around a week back me and my Son had a long debate on this topic. He is 22 now, not that I want to get him married now, but you all know as a Mother, stage by stage you have these plans for your children and for me, right now it is that my Son sets up his way ahead for the future and then later on, the next his marriage. Typical Indian....hahaha.

We were talking, and then somewhere our conversation lead to his marriage and then Children. I am very very fond of Children, and I always like having them around. I was telling my Son, You have a minimum of 3 Children. So then the whole thing started where he was telling me; Mom if I have Children it will be in the next 3 to 4 years else I will not have Children, I was a little lost to his thoughts. So then our debate started and he was telling me. Is it worth having Children in a world where there will be no freedom and every action will be in Control and will be monitored. He said he does not wish his Children to be slaves of the system.

@eco-alex

In days that have long passed, in the era that our parents and grandparents knew, it was a different world and a different age. Have we not always lived in troubled times? Only now we have replaced extreme poverty and disease for our modern day issues. They used to worry if there was enough bread for one bite, their children used to work in the coal mines. And today we struggle with global issues, climate change, extreme debt, a housing crisis, corruption and lies, no one to trust and no family unit left for support.

So the question simplified could be "Do you think it a good or bad idea to bring children into this world."

As always, there is no right or wrong answer. It always depends who you are asking and what the circumstances are. Speaking for myself, i really think there are good reasons for having children and for not having them. I do also have my own reasoning and feelings on this, and some of them may well come across as old fashioned! So let's get into this!

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