Why do poor people have like 18 kids?

[slakjaw]

Why do people who are living in poverty have so many kids? Why do the rich / upper class folks have like 2 kids?

There are exceptions to this... But why does this seem to be the norm?

[Jays72T]

They get more $$.

[widebody911]

Sex is free; when you're broke, you don't have the cash for exotic vacations and golf and crap like that.

That being the case, I should have 10 kids of my own by now...

[Hendog]

They were rich (financially) then they had 18 kids

[MichiganMat]

To keep the marriage together, duh.

[serge944]

I think nationality has a lot to do with it as well. Lots of Eastern European migrants have lots of children because the man is the sole source of income, so the woman needs to be occupied at home.

This is also true of a lot of Mexican families, where again, similar trends are observed.

For those collecting welfare or other benefits, yes, more kids = more booze money.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

The Catholic church and welfare are the main reasons

[Tervuren]

The rich - are after money, which takes their time. The poor have time - which creates kids.

When I wasn't working much, I built my own RC car out of scrap metal. Now that I'm working longer hours, I don't have that time anymore, andh ave to buy a part rather then make it. Take the money you make per hour, and compare it to what you can build in that hour.

[DavidI]

What else do you do for fun when you have no money?

[Aurel]

Several possible explanations:

1-Because the less you have, the less you need, to be happy.
2-Condoms are too expensive.
3-By multiplying the number of kids, you increase your chances that one will be smarter than you, hence raising the social level of your familly name.
4-Kids, like old 911s, are cheap to acquire. It is the maintenance that costs...
5-They just don`t think.

Aurel

[Icemaster]

Every sperm is sacred, every sperm is great...

[ruf-porsche]

Originally posted by serge944
I think nationality has a lot to do with it as well. Lots of Eastern European migrants have lots of children because the man is the sole source of income, so the woman needs to be occupied at home.

This is also true of a lot of Mexican families, where again, similar trends are observed.

For those collecting welfare or other benefits, yes, more kids = more booze money.

Are we stereotyping or racial profiling?

Bobby Kennedy had a ton of kids.

Originally posted by procon
We were so poor growing up that at Christmas, Daddy would cut holes in our pockets so we would have something to play with.

Lot's of truth in that old joke.

LOL

Originally posted by Aurel
Several possible explanations:

1-Because the less you have, the less you need, to be happy.
2-Condoms are too expensive.
3-By multiplying the number of kids, you increase your chances that one will be smarter than you, hence raising the social level of your familly name.
4-Kids, like old 911s, are cheap to acquire. It is the maintenance that costs...
5-They just don`t think.

Aurel

LMAO

[legion]

Poor people tend to live in clusters....

RESPECT MY AUTHORITIE!

[nightheart]

I never met anyone with 18 kids, but I did used to work with a guy that was one of nine kids. He got a little offended when I asked if his parents didn't have cable when they first got married.

[rouxroux]

...Easy answer: Because there are still possibilities to give a child a name that does not even remotely sound like the way it is spelled...(trust me, as a retired teacher...I seen quite a few gems)

[Racerbvd]

Poor girls don't swallow???

[pbs911]

I hate to be blunt, but poor people are generally stupid and do not think through their actions - hence being stupid. Poor people also believe the government will take care of them if they get in trouble.

[bt1211]

A. The uneducated are known to make poor choices
b. Long before there was welfare, people had too many children
c. Religious edicts
d. One child is too many, if you have nothing. The problem with that is everyone thinks that their situation will improve.
e. biology
f. unconditional love. you will have something to love, come hell or high-water
g. I cant do anything else but I can do this

[SlowToady]

I think you guys are all way off base. We talked about this in my Soc. class last semester, and read a book by two women who studied this extensively; one woman even lived in the "ghetto" with the women she was studying.

What did she find? They didn't do it for the money, as some of you have alluded to. Or just for the sex. They ( the poor women) basically explained it thus:

• The poor don't really have anything
• They know that they probably never will have anything; middleclass dreams seem impossible for them
• They generally have less chances for higher education and thus the ability to advance themselves is almost non-existent
• Poor women don't trust other poor women, they see them as "man" stealers, and most poor women confess to have no close friends or family ties.

Because of these factors, poor women decide to have children because they provide them with a sense of love and companionship, believing that their baby will always love them, that they don't otherwise have. The father(s) is(are) almost never there, for various reasons, and as mentioned before, they generally say that they don't have any peer-friendships.

I realize that you guys were likely just joking or making light of the situation, but one should at least make an effort to understand the way in which the economic "other half" lives. As more affluent individuals, we have options available to us that the poor could only dream of. In the very poor areas of America, where the study I referred to was conducted, the HS graduation was around 50%. And msot of them don't even go on to college. Therefore, they have less economic incentive to not have children while they are young.

Well I just realized that I am rambling, but the point of my post is that there is a very real, and very understandable, reason why the very poor have kids. We don't have to agree with it, but we should at least make an effort to understand it.

If anyone is actually interested in reading about this, check out the book "Promises I Can Keep" by Edin and Kefalis(sp?). Actually, if someone is really interested, I can send them my copy.

[syncroid]

Why do poor people have like 18 kids?
There is a flip side for some folks who are not poor. One of my sisters for instance has eight kids. Ages range from almost eight to twenty three. She and her husband make "good" money. They both just really love kids. All of them are extremely well educated and cultured. I see no harm in that. I do have to sit back and wonder though, why poor people procreate so much when they can't possibly provide for the herd.