Over the past year I have noticed more and more commercials advertising different birth control methods, from a low hormone pill, to complete sterilization for women never to be reversed. These advertisements have always brought sadness to me. Mainly because I know that most women believe in these methods and truly believe that they are for the best.
One such commerical shows a family with their two children at a soccer game. You can hear the moms thoughts in her head such as, "What if I'm pregnant?, What would we do?, etc.". Then goes on to tell you of the non-reversable birth control method that you can have so that you never have to worry again about messing up your already complete family. They may not use the term "messing up", but that is the idea I got. Which is sad to think that so many people believe that another baby would mess things up!
Back to the point now...as I was thinking of these advertisements I began to see how people could think that having another baby would mess things up. Considering that most American families put so much emphasis on extra curricular activities, such as sports. So if you have two children and they are both playing their sport of choice, plus one or two extra activities like piano lessons and chess club for example; not to mention the church or youth group activities that many young people are involved in. I could see how having another child would be stressful.
Two different games to go to every weekend, not to mention all the practices and driving each child to their events. Talk about a busy life! Adding a baby and nursing, or bottle feeding, sleepless nights, a possible hard pregnancy on mom could turn anyone off from wanting more.
.
Hold on though...what if we thought with a more eternal mindset? Not to say that sports and the activies are bad, but I truly believe that if they are taking over dinners together as a family and spreading the family thin (which in most cases I think they do), then they are definitely not as helpful as most families think.
Something that has been on my heart lately is serving. What if instead of organized sports for each child, what if families found niches where they could serve as a whole, together? I'm not talking about your once a year soup kitchen service (which please do not get me wrong, I think it is wonderful! We have not even done one ourselves), but making serving a priority in your families life, a weekly or monthly thing even. The beautiful thing is we could do this as a family, no matter the size.
And back to sports...what ever happened to playing them together in your yard, with your family and neighbors? Why do we feel like we have to be on an organized team to play which takes up so much of our precious family time that will not be here for long?
Also with many of our own activities I believe it encourages selfishness and isolation. You may not think that considering when doing the activity you are not isolated...after all, you are with a team or others doing it. But when besides as a child and young adult is pursuing your own hobby with the intensity that one does as a child happen as an adult? What husband or wife has the time to pursue their hobby to the fullest without neglecting their spouse or children? If we are raising our children with the mindset of pursuing their own personal hobby(s), possibly to the detriment of the family...are we setting them up for failure as an adult?
Just a thought...
