Fair Start Movement

Category: Children’s Rights

What Does Having Kids Mean by Improved Continuity?

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Q: Having Kids refers to improved continuity as the objective value at the heart of the Having Kids model. What does that mean?

A: One of the problems with current parenting models is that they provide no objective value on which to base the decision to have a child. As such, they don’t provide common ground for parents to work together, collectively, to make the best parenting decisions possible. The Having Kids model starts with the most basic human value—the desire for our lives to continue and improve, i.e. improved continuity—and applies it to parenting.

With improved continuity at the core of our decision-making, the reasons we have children change. Following traditional parenting models, parents might validate their decision to have four children by saying that they “value the feeling of a large family” or they “want a child of a certain gender.” With improved continuity at the core, parents will invest more in their first and/or second child to make those children’s lives better than their own lives. And it encourages parents to invest in the first and/or second child of parents in need to help them achieve improved continuity for their own children.

Doing so would improve all children’s lives, give them common ground, and help them eventually work together to shape the best future possible. It would also fulfill what matters most—objectively—to parents: the continuation and improvement of their lives through their children. Improved continuity: It’s part of the Having Kids model of smaller families working together to invest more in each child.

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January 26, 2016
Leo’s Leap of Faith

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Leonardo DiCaprio captured headlines again with a vague hint for adoring fans eager to know about his plans to have children: “Do you mean do I want to bring children into a world like this?” asked the 41-year-old actor. “If it happens, it happens. I’d prefer not to get into specifics about it, just because then it becomes something that is misquoted. But, yeah.”

Here’s what’s interesting about the statement. Leo seems concerned about the world his children would inherit—and rightly so. But he seems to disconnect that concern, as most people do, from the act of having those children. The fact is, our future world will look and be like the people born and raised today—the children we have. And we can make that future bright by working together to make those children the best they can be. Leo disconnects the two issues because under the current isolation model of parenting, Leo has no control over the future his children will inherit; in our current model, parents go off to private enclaves to make these decisions. But we can break that model and make the future safe for our children. Things like the Having Kids model—where everyone works together to have fewer children and invest more in each child—offer a better alternative.

By working together, we don’t have to make a leap of faith. Together, we can shape our future.

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January 15, 2016
See World Population Growth Over Centuries

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An impressive GIF shows what world population looked like in 1800, 1900, and 2000, as well as what the United Nations projects for 2100. Here’s what Vox had to say about this population growth:

Between 1900 and 2000, the size of the global population skyrocketed (from 1.7 to 6.1 billion), mostly in the developing world — Asia, Africa, and South and Central America. This reflects huge victories in global development and the spread of economic growth and technology previously reserved for Europe and North America. Once again, this has geopolitical significance: Being larger and richer gives countries more resources to draw on in international politics. We’re talking about the rise of countries like China and India today for a reason.

Being larger and richer may seem like a benefit to nations, but what about the people actually living in them? A basic principle of international development called the demographic dividend suggests that smaller families, not growth, promote development.

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January 14, 2016
Family Planning Dynamics & the Having Kids Model

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The story of families in Tanzania provides a great example of how family planning efforts — if fully funded — could protect women, children, and the environment all at the same time.

Tanzania is a large country; it’s about the size of Texas and Colorado combined. Tanzania’s population is quite young: as of 2014, 45% of the population was under the age of 15. It’s the 6th most populated country in Africa, with 52.3 million people. By 2030—only 15 years from now—the population is projected to rise to 79.4 million, and by 2050, unless the birth rate slows substantially, there will be 2.5 times as many people in Tanzania as there are today, 129.4 million, which would make it the 15th largest country in the world.

What is driving the rapid population increase? Only 26% of married women use modern contraception, compared with 53% next door in Kenya. In the Kigoma region of western Tanzania, the rate falls to 14%, among the lowest in the world. Forty one percent of women in Kigoma have an unmet need for contraception. The total fertility rate in western Tanzania is 7.1, among the very highest in the world. Having babies in rapid succession is often accompanied by high maternal mortality. There is an urgent need to make voluntary contraception more available in places like rural western Tanzania so that women and their families are able to live healthier, productive lives and space and plan their families.

How can we strengthen demands for increased funding of contraception beyond the plea to simply make it “accessible?” Perhaps it’s time to embrace an objective and universal model of smaller families working together to invest more in each child, rather than traditional and subjective models that do not address family size, community involvement, and minimum standards of wellbeing and equality for future children.

It’s not just countries like Tanzania that need this change — all of our futures depend on it.

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January 13, 2016
Growth and the Quantity-Quality Trade-off

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A recent study suggests that with every additional child, other siblings are more likely to suffer from lower cognitive abilities, more behavioral issues, and worse outcomes later in life. This research builds on prior evidence that there is a significant trade-off between quantity and quality when it comes to family size. The “quantity-quality” trade-off, as it has been called, can have dramatic impacts throughout a child’s life, such as less education, lower earnings, and increased risk for teenage pregnancies and criminal behavior. If this is true, why are some leaders still pushing for larger families? Maybe it’s time to revisit growth policies that are designed to make infinitely “stronger” economies and nations at real costs to the people actually living in them.

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January 8, 2016
Switching Off Sperm: the Future of Male Contraception?

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Research is underway on a new device that would allow men to control their fertility by literally flicking a switch. Given that a recent study confirmed that a whopping forty percent of pregnancies worldwide are unplanned, this kind of male contraception could have a dramatic impact. Besides affecting parental and child wellbeing, it would have long-reaching effects on the health of our environment. What might the world have looked like today if something as simple as a “switch” had been available decades ago?

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January 7, 2016
What Do Madonna, Charlize Theron, and Sandra Bullock Have in Common?

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All three stars are parenting adopted children.

In some ways, raising a child is a selfless act, especially when that child isn’t a biological extension of the parent. And while some parents might not see an adopted child as really their “own,” many celebrities and non-celebrities alike would strongly disagree. Adoption: It’s one example of the Having Kids model in action. Smaller families are working together to invest more in each child and provide as much care for the children in this world as we can — for their benefit and for ours.

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January 7, 2016
Motherhood, Redefined

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Actor Kim Cattrall is speaking out on motherhood — despite having no biological children. “[T]here is a way to become a mother in this day and age that doesn’t include your name on the child’s birth certificate. You can express that maternal side very clearly, very strongly.”

How? By helping to play a role in children’s and young adults’ lives. Kim highlights her work with young actors and her own nieces and nephews as being meaningful ways for her to make a difference in the lives of children. In other words, Kim embodies Having Kids’ goal of all people working together to invest more in each child. Would the world be a better place if more people mothered the way Kim does, cooperating to maximize care for the people we have, rather than increasing the number of people who need care? It’s a conversation worth having.

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January 5, 2016
Families in the Forest

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One school in the United Kingdom takes a direct approach to building a community in nature. The Pencoed Primary School has won the Royal Forestry Society gold award for a program that focuses on developing self-esteem and confidence by having children and their families work together in nature-based team building activities. For example, participants learn how to build campfires and use them for cooking.

The program exemplifies a deep connection between families and the natural, nonhuman world around them. It also embodies the spirit of connectedness and engaged parenting that Having Kids celebrates. We’d love to see more opportunities like this for kids and their parents to learn together.

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January 5, 2016