In a 2004 survey conducted by the Department of Agriculture it is estimated that the cost of raising a child through the age of 17 is 184,320 with an annual income of 41,700 to 70,200. This does not take into account college expenses but just the basic needs of a child from birth to age of seventeen. As the result of today's cost of raising children the average size family has declined to approx. 2.6 per household.
There is however a movement in the United States called "The Quiver Full". This movement was started in 1989 when a book by Rick and Jan Hess was written entitled "A Full Quiver: Family Planning and the Lordship of Christ." These couples have decided that it is not up to them how many children to have, instead it is up to God to decide. They base this decision on a passage from Psalms 127: 3,4,5. There are couples with as many as 17 children and while they do not believe in birth control or family planning, the subject goes much deeper than just having a large family. I had no idea that such a movement existed until I had to do a report on it in my Sociology of Religion class last fall and so I decided to add this to the blog because there is so much controversy surrounding this subject. I have listed some sites below for you to check out and then come back and share your thoughts on this.
http://www.quiverfull.com/
http://home.fuse.net/mac47/quiverfaq.html
http://buriedtreasurebooks.com/PrairieMuffinManifesto.php
No comments:
Post a Comment