So, say you successfully spread your seed in seven different towns across the country (carefully picked as good idling towns, of course) and made seven little buttons. You could wander round and look after each one for a day each week. That still means the mums would have to look after them on their own for the other six days. Probably easier to pick one woman and have the seven little buttons altogether where you can both look after them everyday of the week?

maybe i will become a sperm donor.

can i still earn money ;-that way...?

i think my sperm are too idle to make an effort swimming the right way these days...

the idea of 7 baby belly buttons is frightening..

as is the idea of 7 women

i think i will pass.

In a way I regret not having children after seeing 'happy' families together but are they happy? Most of the kids look bored and wishing they could get away and the mothers stressed. Children generate a lot of housework and need entertaining while you do it. Then again having a man around the house and pets generates plenty of housework. Even living on your own there's enough housework to do and so different to shared houses where I had my specialised tasks such as cleaning the oven and inside of cupboards and defrosting the fridge as now I have to do everything. Cooking a meal for two takes only a little longer than cooking for one.

Many mothers have told me that when you have children you get invigorated by them so don't mind the extra effort. They're either lying or very lucky. The happiest mothers I've met have only one small daughter then they go and ruin the peace by having another one. A boy who creates extra demands or a girl who causes jealousy with her older sister. Some parents think the biggest change comes not when you have your first child but when you have your second.

Chinny wrote:
So, say you successfully spread your seed in seven different towns across the country (carefully picked as good idling towns, of course) and made seven little buttons. You could wander round and look after each one for a day each week. That still means the mums would have to look after them on their own for the other six days. Probably easier to pick one woman and have the seven little buttons altogether where you can both look after them everyday of the week?
Why assume that BB would not spread his seed in seven different idle towns, become a single father and spend his weeks wandering around the country taking the little buttons to visit their mothers?

Lupilou wrote:
You can still go against the grain if you have children. If anything I've developed a freer mindset since having my son.
Absobloominlutely. In the eyes of many non-parents, those who breed become slaves of their pint-sized tyrant offspring.

Actually, that is true!

- but it is also true that for many people, acquiring responsibility for the upbringing of a sprog gives them the kick up the arse which they need to reappraise their priorities and cut loose from wage-slavery.

Mr Livered wrote:
[quoteWhy assume that BB would not spread his seed in seven different idle towns, become a single father and spend his weeks wandering around the country taking the little buttons to visit their mothers?[/quote]

Exellent point Livered,

I think many of us idlers do a better job of being parents than being "providers".

Mr Livered wrote:
Why assume that BB would not spread his seed in seven different idle towns, become a single father and spend his weeks wandering around the country taking the little buttons to visit their mothers?

Fair point. In which case he might need a minibus to transport the little buttons around in. Or, better still, he could wander around the country satisfying his nomadic impulses for some of the time, and the rest of the time stay put and the various mothers can do the travelling to visit their respective buttons on their allotted days, or even randomly if he prefers randomness. Sounds a bit easier.

Please do continue making plans for my life I'm rather enjoying it......

At the moment you are the single father to seven little buttons! That'll keep you busy! If Livered gets his way you will be home educating them too. No respite. But if you stay on good terms with your seven former (if only briefly) girlfriends, they can help out a bit more.

its an interesting topic. when i was in my early 20's i was diagnosed with a medical condition and told i might not be able to have children because of it. throughout my 20's i told myself i didn't want children anyway. as none of my friends were having them either, this never felt like an issue.

when i hit my early 30's i got severe depression and the notion that i would never have children was a big part of it. even though it was a bit of a moot point at the time as i wasn't in a relationship. i could still hear this huge noisy tick tocking sound. i'd never understood till then why people would go to such lengths to try and have kids, like endless rounds of IVF and so on.

now i understand, but the ticking has quietened down. i do find it very very disturbing though, when i realise i if i'f had kids when younger, i'd have grown up children by now. this really bothers me in a way i can't really explain.

and another big deal to me was this largely unspoken desire to give my parents the grandchildren they want. a hugely unfair parental pressure. i only have one sibling and i am the oldest, so it felt like my job to have the babies. i know it doesn't make sense, but thats how i felt. thankfully now, my sister has spawned, and the pressures off and i can be cool auntie instead!

plus i'm not quite over the hill yet, so theres still a vague possibility!

but then why the desire to reproduce? is it a genetic urge or is it social? for me, its now more social. a normal part of society. being a parent. the desire to raise a child to your own ideals, share your knowledge, wisdom. someone to pass your legacy to.

and as such, i would love to adopt. i really would. its not something i've looked into in any real way, but i've thought about it a lot because of the whole infertility thing. but i would want to adopt a baby. a baby. not an older child. not because babies are just so cute, because a)actually babies are pretty boring b) they don't stay babies for long. but because the parenting 'experience' is the whole range of your childs life. the sleepless nights, stinky nappys, first word, first day at school are the experiences of parenthood.

so why the problem? adopt a baby. because babies to adopt are hard to find in the UK. it is no longer socially unacceptable to be a single parent- the usual previous source of babies for adoption- and rightly so. if a person wants to adopt a baby, you almost always have to go abroad. i would have no objections to this myself, but it throw up an array of ethical question not to mention legal and financial.

the urge to be a parent. its a funny old thing!