HA. I can believe that this conversation actually happened unfortunately..

ever been to this blog? http://www.stfuparentsblog.com/

Yeah it's unfortunately true (for the most part...paraphrasing for sake of comic-ry and all). And no I haven't seen that..good god.

Haha, love the term "mommyjacking." So apt. 8(

Yeah I've not been privy to that term before but that's really a good way to describe it! Once someone enters with parental comparisons, all conversation ceases as you've just been one-upped to infinity, any reply after that point clearly doesn't hold the same weight.

The good ol' "children are starving in Africa" fallacy. Logical fallacies make me sad kitty.

Someone always has it worse than you!

I wonder what they say to people who ARE starving in Africa.

Be thankful that we allow you to starve to death! We could be actively beating you to death like in this other country!

hey hey now - people with kids often get MORE help from the gov't (restrictions apply). I think that's the most irritating about the whole situation...

I wish I could omit that amount from the taxes I pay. I owe $50 to the guvmint? Okay I'll give you 43.50 and lets say I don't pay for people's mistakes.

That and the fact that no matter how bad their financial situation is they still are all proud when they have another one to burden the system. 'Lookit how cute he/she is!!!'...that cuteness makes it all perfectly fine.

but it made me laugh... mostly cause its true lol

And that makes me happy :)

Oh god yes.

XD

So true!
Once on, I believe, 16 and pregnant this girl was happily telling "Oh yeah we couldn't afford condoms, that's how I got pregnant". If you can't afford condoms then of course you will be able to afford a kid for the next 20 years! 8)

I really like the expressions in the third panel! ^__^

Oh god there are not enough facepalms in the world to react to that properly... ugh ugh ugh

And thanks!

Reality-based life choices are <i>so</i> out of fashion nowadays!

But baaaabiiiiieees! You're not a real adult without a kid and everything just seems so trivial once you have one!

And they're so Cyoooooooooooooooooote!

Sadly it seems like a lot of people don't care about anything other than popping out babies, if you're not doing that then screw you basically...

Yep! "Until you have a child...UNTIL you have a CHILD...you just don't know what you're talking about, ever."

God if I ever become one of those people if I have a kid I hope someone smacks me.

I hear this one a lot, too. That and " Why on earth would a married, Christian woman like you still want to be on birth control?" usually followed by gasps. Possibly because we're low income, I'm getting ready to go to grad school, and we are happy with having pets... these are apparently not good reasons. My family likes to play the child card, be it for guilt " I was married at your age with a kid on an enlisted man's salary and we did better than you" Or " Don't say she made a questionable choice by having a baby at 16, now she has a family of her own!"

I do hope this comment is in-line, I have no need to start debate, just empathizing.

No no this type of comment is totally fine. reminds me of my mom who kindly lends me money frequently and helps me with my car insurance, but does the whole "when are you going to have kids". Seriously? You're loaning me money so I can afford rent, and we're having this discussion?

Also just to comment on a particular note in your reply, the whole "why would someone married need BC", this is the type of thinking I really hope is stamped out sooner rather than later, that once you get married you live "happily ever after" and you can have "just sex" without it resulting in babies. Birth control is an ongoing thing unless you're sterilized, you can't show the sperm your marriage license and go "oh no no, its okay we're married now, so we'll just stop at 2 children and only when we're 35, thank you!"

Exactly. People, especially in this area (rural midwest) seem to only associate birth control with the "Young and Irresponsible," and not as an ongoing thing in long term committed relationships and after marriage. Someone I am close to even once remarked that the health department removing their family planning program was only going to effect teens, when lots of low income couples needed that for affordable protection and women's health services (such as free ultrasounds even for those who chose to have children). It's a strange stigma, really, because one would think it would be a more open subject with the sheer number of married couples who do still need BC or did in the past.

By the by, the "Muttropolis" website hasn't received these updates. Is the website still active?

It is I just hadn't updated it yet, lots going on here. There weren't any new comics until this one and the mockingbird one anyways. Expect an update soon.

Aaaand its updated :)

This comic amused me greatly. Especially given that SO MANY people in the county I live in have children out of wedlock JUST so they can reap the benefits that the state is willing to give single parents. Its sick and I totally agree that its a slap in the face to have someone invalidate your issues by coming up with hypothetical ones that you are TOO SMART to get yourself into. SIGH.

It IS nice to get a breath of fresh air with this post though. <3 Thanks for sharing it!

No problem, glad you enjoyed it :)

And yeah I don't know how "having kids you can't afford" doesn't register as irresponsible behavior, all people see is AWWWWW LOOKIT THE BABY NOW I HAVE GRANDKIDS.

I'm 22 in a part time job living at home because i simply can't afford to pay rent for my own place.Many people who were in school have had kids ,some even had them beforewe had left school!

Many have admitted having kids just to get more money from the government.they also get their parents to watch the kids while they go out and get pissed.IMO both sets of parents need a good smack in the jaw :/
At the moment i make around 70 euro a week.Because of government schemes /dole they get over 400 euro a week.its not right.

As for the comic i love those expressions xD

Oh ouch. I'm 26 and I still can't even fathom having kids right now, much less at 22!

Glad you liked it, thanks!

I'm 25, married for three years, and constantly get "how many kids do you have?" or "When are you having children?". Even recently I was having health problems that could have resulted in major surgery, my mothers first question was "But you can still have kids, right?" I was hurt.

I do want kids, but I need to do somethings before I have them. Pay off some major debt, buy a house, and make sure I'm where I Need to be in my education and stuff. That way to me, the child can have a more fufilling life.

So people need to shut up about kids already. Plus, life is harder when you have children, yea, but the goverment also hands you 4,000 a year per child every year.

I would be hurt too :( It's like..who cares about you and your health, its all about the kids who aren't even a glimmer in your eye yet! My mom's always hinting at grandkids and I just...I get stressed out because I can't even take care of myself right now and she /knows this/. But I also am not a "serious adult" because I don't have kids. I'll say "ugh I'm having a hard time affording this car payment" and there's the "UGH. Just WAIT until you have kids. THEN you'll know what expensive is." NNNGH! I know they're expensive. Thats. Why. I. Don't. Have. Them.

$4k? Seriously? Um...why? o_O

Yea, I know its like like they don't listen to the fact that you are already being a responsible adult by waiting.

I'm not sure exactly what the law is, or if its just here in Iowa, but every child you claim on your income taxes you get 4k from, at least everyone here in Iowa does, so it may only be an Iowa law, but I'm not 100%.

*sigh* I'm sure I'll have to deal with this for the rest of my life since I'm not interested having children at all.

"But what if you had a kid?" "Then our lives would suck worse, what's your point?"

I kind of wonder if people are trying to "help" by kickstarting my mind into that mindset. Like "oh man what if we had a kid what would I do differently, lets problem solve!" but it's a moot point so...I really see nothing constructive in this.

Yeah, I admit that's sort of a low blow. Now, I'm all about keeping things in perspective and appreciating what good things there are in my life, but when you're actually struggling financially, it's not a fair method to lay down something like "You'd be even WORSE off if you had kids."

I simply pull perspective cards like the "Every 2 seconds a child in a third world country dies a preventable death" for people who are bitching over the most asinine things...like yelling at a fast food employee because their order is "taking too long" to get to their fat mouths.

My great uncle owned a Chevy dealership and, after about 40 years of hard work and good sales he and the dealership were out of debt. Upon which moment, GM called him and told him to do something huge and expensive to get back IN debt, because otherwise, he wouldn't have any motivation to sell cars.

This is a big part of what's going on here. In the eyes of our parents, and others who are parents, without kids there's no wolves at our door and without living on the edge and the chips being down and money being tight, well! We're just big kids ourselves, doing what we want, slacking off and having a good time.

There's also I think, an element of jealousy. Given that they love their kids, there's always a little resentment on the part of someone who has a responsibility when they encounter someone who does not have to undertake that same responsibility; there's always a feeling of 'god damn it, I had to do it, why don't YOU have to do it?'

When my college friends joined the Army or the Marines I got a lot of that... 'you gotta join too! How can you call yourself a man if you ain't in the army? Let's go to the recruiting center RIGHT NOW!'. It's the same thing.

We need a good comeback that would generally shut people up. Problem is, most of them would just take you into the 'why don't you adopt??' conversation and that's certainly no better. :P

You know, this is an interesting way to view it. I think you're right on all those points.

I do know that in the case of my mom she wants grandkids because while she enjoyed me (I was relatively easy) but she can always give grandkids back to their parents whey they start being little shits. It's all the fun of having a kid without actually having them! I see her point. But honestly considering the hardship she went through trying to afford me I don't know why she's forgotten. It's like how the body is programmed to not remember pain, I think parents are programmed to not remember just how horrible it was paying for and raising their kids after they've grown XD

Oh and just for the record to you and to anyone reading this, this conversation was NOT between me and my mom. My mom fortunately isn't "bitter" when it comes to kids, she's just an "ooooo lookit the baaaabyyyyyy" type :3

I've been wanting to comment on this for a few days now, but I've just been busy. Anyway, I wanted to let you know that you had my support in making responsible choices with kids. I'm almost 48 years old and am married. We don't have any kids and don't plan on having any either. I don't HATE them (I work in a school) but I have absolutely NO desire to go home to any after working all day around them. My wife feels the same way. Believe it or not people still ask me if me and my wife are going to have any. My reply is usually "kinda late to be starting that isn't it" or "Why would I want any at home? I have 500 I have to clean up after every day"

Some people seem to think I need a kid to take care of me when I'm old, but I'm not too worried about that either. Actually not having kids has enabled us to afford some really cool stuff that "normal" people with kids would not be able to have, ie. two old muscle cars and a boat. I enjoy our time we spend with our dogs and going to car shows. Being childless/childfree hasn't hurt us a bit.

I think you are on the right track. Just don't let everybody else get you down. I know it's annoying. I've been through it all and heard it all too. They will eventually figure it out and quit pestering you.

Best wishes,

Jim

Thank you for the comment :3 And yeah I can see why working with kids all day would kind of fill the "need a kid" spot in your life. it's kind of like working in a restaurant, you like the smells you like the food but do you go there on your day off? Nope.

Hopefully folks will accept my "not yet" as just that...an "I'm not ready" and quit asking me "but WHEN?" I don't like having to explain myself in obvious situations (or what should seem obvious!)