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“Oh, But You HAVE To…Get Married, Have a Baby, Have Two Babies, Buy a House”

…The List of Life is Endless, If You Listen to Every Fool You Meet

Aman
6 min readNov 26, 2019

“David and I aren’t going to have another kid. This pregnancy was really hard for me and honestly, the time off from work has been really straining for us. We are really happy with Ben and he is doing so well, but the idea of having another baby, ever, just seems too exhausting to even consider,” said the woman at the booth beside me in the restaurant last night.

“Oh but you have to have at least two children. Having one is just cruel!” said the woman’s friend. “Are you crazy?” she continued on, “having only one kid is suicide. That child will grow up so lonely and deprived, why would you do that to Ben?”

Her friend did not respond right away, as I leaned back further, so curious to hear what her response to this brutal attack was. Finally, she meekly replied, “No….yeah, I guess it is cruel to only have one child….” She did not seem very sure of her response at all, but she did seem embarrassed. “It has just been really hard for us and you know, I miss work and Ben is a lot, but you are right, we absolutely are being selfish if we do not have another child.”

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Aman
Aman

Written by Aman

I write about issues that are near and dear to my heart, with the hope that my stories, experiences, and struggles may empower others.

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