Negative

I wrote that post from the perspective of actually being accidentally pregnant – as an actor would preparing for a role in a movie, I suppose. I tried to take on the thoughts and fears and excitement I would have felt. Those feelings were real. And for a moment – no, a while – I was actually a little disappointed not to be pregnant.

I had never questioned having an only child. My husband wanted another baby and I didn’t rule it out. But I never had the longing. And, sort of passively aggressively, I let time slip away until it became no longer plausible.

It does give me pause, at times, when my darling son asks if he can have a brother. (He wants an older one.) There are women who would give their life’s blood to carry a baby, yet each month I am preventing this well-working mechanism in my own body. Should I feel guilty for not giving my son a companion to share his 5-year-old dreams, a best friend for life? Am I selfish for wanting just one child?

According to OnlyChild.com, the percentage of women who have only one child has more than doubled in the past 20 years, making only-child families the fast growing families in this country. Figures recently released by the Office for National Statistics, the UK’s “statistics authority,” families with only one child now make up 46 percent of all families in Britain, a number that’s jumped four percent since last year. This only-child trend, affectionately coined “little emperors” by China which imposed a one-child family limit, has taken root in Britain, so say the experts, because of the need for mothers to work, the high cost of raising children, and the prevalence of family breakups and single parenthood.

Are my reasons as rational? Maybe not. Mine are more selfish. But it is a decision I made and, at this point, there’s no looking back.

Source: Daily Mail

JWJourney

Post from: Blisstree

OK, I’m NOT Pregnant

The situation in the average work place is often similar. Consider this: Two employees seeking the same promotion or a plumb assignment:

• Person a) From Britain, sounds as if he’s worked for the Queen, but has an average education.
  Person b) has graduated with honors from Harvard Business School–but, to you, he sounds like a hot-dog vendor from Coney Island.

Guess who gets the job: British guy…why?…because he simply sounds more polished, and therefore intelligent.

In our ever-coagulating cultural work-place, we’ve got to be more sensitive about diversity and we’ve got to consider people for advancement, based on their skills and accomplishments and not whether they say “Tomahto” vs. “Tamaidda”.

P.S. This is most definitely not a knock against any of my British colleagues or hot dog vendors.

Post from: Blisstree

Accent On Bigotry