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Parenting License?

Big Nate

Chaos Engineer
Should we as a society require parents to get a license before they can have children??



Discuss
 

YSOSLO

is the word, beotch
As much as my knee-jerk reaction would be to say 'absolutely!' due to the many people abusing the system by using their kids as a source of income for their own laziness and individuals having kids for all the wrong reasons like trapping someone in a relationship or as a way to try to strengthen a bad marriage, keeping people from doing that which we were enabled to do as a species seems extreme. I could totally debate either side of the argument, but the reality is that procreation is the ultimate freedom for most of us and taking that away seems like the ultimate repression.

Would it be considered off-topic to ask that, were licensing to become a requirement, how we would treat couples that were approved for a license, but were unable to conceive on their own?....or would that be intertwined?
 

ZoomZoom Diva

New Member
The issue with any form of license is what are the standards and who gets to create them. Frankly, considering the standards that people are judged on as parents right now, I don't trust that being applied to formal licensing.

Nate, it sort of goes hand-in-hand with the discussion we had about parents being denied the latitude to raise their children. Instead of now merely trying to pressure parents to raise their children that way, they would have greater rule of law.
 

AJ

110 HP of FURY!
Short Answer. Yes. Long and Complicated Answer. Yes.

I heard some chick in the lunch area of our building a week or so back say she wanted another kid for the additional $ support and personal child support. She'd then wouldn't have to work. Straight faced to another girl she was standing next to. Fucking Bullshit.
 

LASERBLUE135

Active Member
I take the side of the environmentalist. Whatever money people get from the government is the least of our worries. Nothing is as detrimental to the environment as another human being. If I were in charge of the world I would allow everyone to be able to have ONE child to replace yourself (another for your spouse).

I could go on all day, but I won't. A "parenting license" is a dumb idea.
 
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DrWebster

Guest
I think the whole "bad parenting" mess actually boils down to a lack of personal responsibility. Nobody's responsible for anything anymore; they just blame someone/something else (and if they can, sue them so they can make a buck in the process). Kids these days do the things they do and get the things they have because their parents are either 1) just going to let society raise the kids for them, or 2) afraid their precious little snowflakes won't love them any more unless they buy them all the stuff they want. And since other kids get away with it, other kids learn and end up getting away with it too.

A small part of me wants us to go through another Great Depression, just to teach these little rotten crotchfruit a lesson and hopefully "reset" the expectations for future generations.
 

Workdawg

NARWHAL
I heard some chick in the lunch area of our building a week or so back say she wanted another kid for the additional $ support and personal child support. She'd then wouldn't have to work. Straight faced to another girl she was standing next to. Fucking Bullshit.
In this case, its just as much a problem with the laws as it is with her mentality. It seems to me that if the govt wasn't handing out giant tax deductions and welfare checks to people with kids, there'd be a lot of people not having as many kids as they do. There are low/no income people having kids and living off of govt assistance.

IMO, if you're going to have a kid, you should be able to 100% support it yourself without the govt giving you money. I'm pro-choice, so IMO, having a kid is 100% choice in all situations. If you can't support it, don't have it. Work hard to make more money so that you can support it if you really want to have a kid. Taxpayers shouldn't be required to carry the burden of other's.

More on topic. I think the idea of licensing parents isn't necessarily a bad idea, but it has huge potential to go wrong. Along with my above comments, income should be a huge factor IMO.
 

YSOSLO

is the word, beotch
In this case, its just as much a problem with the laws as it is with her mentality. It seems to me that if the govt wasn't handing out giant tax deductions and welfare checks to people with kids, there'd be a lot of people not having as many kids as they do. There are low/no income people having kids and living off of govt assistance.

IMO, if you're going to have a kid, you should be able to 100% support it yourself without the govt giving you money. I'm pro-choice, so IMO, having a kid is 100% choice in all situations. If you can't support it, don't have it. Work hard to make more money so that you can support it if you really want to have a kid. Taxpayers shouldn't be required to carry the burden of other's.

More on topic. I think the idea of licensing parents isn't necessarily a bad idea, but it has huge potential to go wrong. Along with my above comments, income should be a huge factor IMO.
Dan does this mean only parents should pay for schools and libraries too then?...because then the only people able to afford to reproduce would be the exceptionally rich, which would severely effect all aspects of our population. And what would happen to the people that "broke the law" and had a kid anyway? Would they have to home school them since they can't afford to pay for school? And what would happen to all of the teachers, bus drivers etc etc... I think some people will certainly disagree and call it discriminatory that they're required to pay taxes to pay for services for kids that aren't theirs or when they don't have ANY kids, but in the end future generations are a requirement for a society to go on, so it's unrealistic to expect that parents would have to cover all expenses or else. I understand income seems like an pretty obvious pre-requisite for a license, but jobs come and go, so that's still not going to protect the parent or taxpayer from helping those that need short-term help.

I think the key to all of the arguments for licensing requirements is that any taxpayer help is limited to a flat rate per child per year and that's it. If you can do it on your own, great...we'll help cover the school expenses as a society in the hope that one day your kid(s) become a productive member of society, and if you can't afford to raise your child(ren) due to something you had no control over, then we'll help for a LIMITED amount of time...after that you're on your own,
 

Workdawg

NARWHAL
I'm okay with taxpayer money going to PUBLIC schools as I consider that an investment in the future of the country. I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about the govt giving tax breaks or welfare to parents just because they have kids.
 

Big Nate

Chaos Engineer
This topic has been a debate for almost as long as this people have came together to form countries and government.


The reason I think it is now more relevant is because we now don’t NEED to have more people. In the not so distant past and still in some countries, people would have children out of necessity. They need more people to help work the farm, mine or whatever makes them money. Today we As Americans don’t need that kind of help. We have huge farms that feed us and most of Africa.

The issue I see is not the government giving away money to those that have kids. It’s the fact that we as a society do not look at birth the same as death. We have spent a lot of time and effort on accidental, negligent, voluntary and even premeditated death. Yet we never look at the birth in the same light. It should not be ok to create life if that life will be severely substandard or full of pain.

On the same point why do we have such vigorous screening for adoption? Anyone can have a baby but if for some reason you can not. We are going to screen and scrutinize every part of your life then if we find you agreeable we will give you a child. Why is that so??

We have also cloned a sheep. That means with not too much trouble we could clone a human. Why are things like this looked at with such concern?? Why then do we allow people who have no way of supporting a child, be it mentally, be it financially, be it whatever, the right to have there child and have no consequence for there action? To me this is no better then being one the trigger end of a gun. You have knowingly brought a life into this world that you can not provide for.

I have seen first hand that in our city (yes right here in good old Minnesota) children having children. They are broken in some way. They have missed a vital hug or important tug along the path that is life. Now they grow up feeling as though the world owes them something. Sad thing is we do owe them something. But until a time machine is invented and we can go back and give them that hug or tell them not to start to take drugs. I can not go back and tell there mother to stop drinking or tell there father to not leave. We can only give them a helping hand.

This will not stop all children from being born out of license just a driving is not stopped by loss of license. But it will help to control the mass hemorrhaging of abuse that is happening today. Abuse that in no short order will destroy the very fabric on witch we lay. Our children are falling farther and farther behind the rest of the world. This is not because we care less. This is because we are becoming too sensitized to bad parents doing bad things with very little consequence.
 
H

Hot Ice

Guest
As a daily witness to children and their parents, I agree with some sort of regulations. I have talked many times about licenses but not sure if that would be the answer. I think all potential parents could at least take a class and read a book or two. It should be mandatory before they give birth. So many parents could be great if they just had the knowledge of what they are really supposed to do. If there was an application process for a license, that could include income, mental stability, health status, education/parenting classes, etc. Every year that passes I get more disgusted at what I am seeing/teaching in the schools. It doesn't even matter what state I am in or if it is rural or urban, it is all the same. And I also feel that if you are truly unfit, you should be fixed so accidents can't happen. Sometimes I feel my thoughts on this lead to a more communist view but I am not sure how else to fix it. I would never want my rights taken away but then again I feel I could pass the application process without issues. It is a hot subject that I discuss a few times a year at least. It is interesting. I do agree that the laws of welfare should be changed a bit. Too many are abusing the privileges they now receive. Hmmm, how can it be fixed.
 
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DrWebster

Guest
The reason I think it is now more relevant is because we now don’t NEED to have more people.
DING DING DING we have a winnar!

Seriously, if the wife and I ever have kids, chances are we'll adopt. As that one dude from the exercise equipment store says, "why buy new when slightly used will do?"
 
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