Can I Afford Another Baby?
Thursday 2nd of January 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Alexandra MercerOver the years I have heard so many people say they would love to have a another baby but they don't think they can afford it. Perhaps this has something to do with there regularly being an article in the news about how expensive it is to bring up a child, it will say something crazy like it costs £100,000 per child. As a mother of six, I find these kind of calculations to be something of a fantasy.
When people discover I have six children it is not uncommon of them to assume that a) I'm mega rich or b) I live on benefits but in fact neither of these scenarios are true. We manage to live on a very small amount of hard earned money, we don't have any debt and we save up to buy good quality items that will last. We live in a small, three bedroomed house where the bills are inexpensive.
In my experience after you've had one baby, having subsequent children costs barely a thing. I re-use washable nappies, the cot, Moses basket, push chair, clothes and so on. I really don't see why people would say they can't afford it, sure when they're older you need to buy another bed and more food but honestly it needn't cost a fortune.
My children all love being in a large family and they're always asking if we can have another baby. To them they find the love and fun from having lots of siblings to be more desirable than having a bit of extra empty space in the house or having more money spent on them at Christmas.
I believe it is vitally important to teach children about how consumerism works and how manipulative advertising is. If you can get your children to understand a little bit about business, how companies try to sell their products and the kind of profit they make, then they will be so much less interested in having things bought for them that they don't really want or need. We don't watch television which means my children are not being subjected to seeing adverts trying to sell them stuff every few minutes. Instead of watching television my children play creatively and organically which doesn't cost anything. They like to draw, paint, read, play role-play games, run about in the garden and so on.
Obviously if you're already struggling financially then having another baby is unlikely to improve your situation but if you're coping financially then having another baby really won't make much of a difference. I understand some people are very prissy and like to have everything in their lives just so; they want each of their children to wear brand new clothes rather than hand them down to the next child, they want a new push chair for each baby, a new cot, expensive holidays, nice cars and for each child to have their own room but this really is not the kind of life I desire. I like my life to be real, passionate, fun, full of laughter and love. Even if my children did each have their own room they would still end up sleeping in the same room any way, they love being together.
So my question to anyone wondering if they can afford to have another baby would be: Can you afford not to have another baby? This is your one life, not a rehearsal so live your life to the full, do what you want to do and don't worry about other people's opinions. Other people have their own lives to live and you have yours.
About the author
Alexandra Mercer
A mummy to three boys and three girls aged from one to sixteen years, all home educated except the eldest. Enjoys researching child development and very interested in alternative methods of education.share this page with friends and family
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