I was genuinely encouraged when perusing a debate on the question of whether parents risk getting bored of their kids throughout the long summer break. Not because parents were vehemently denying that they could ever find their little seeds of joy anything short of magnificently entertaining, but instead because of the large number of people actually raising questions over the parental credentials of anyone who could say that they might get bored, or find it a struggle in the summer.

Given the regular stream of human rights toss that gets spewn at me every time I raise the question of whether or not people have an automatic right to have children and then do whatever else they want with their lives, it is refreshing to see people holding up the vailidity of the instinctive defence of such rights to open debate. Of course, I expect that there are still precious few - if any at all - that would agree to the smallest part of what I would propose to solve parenting issues, but at least there are some voices out there arguing against parents that whinge because they work for a living, or don't want to spend weeks at a time with their offspring.

To me, it's automatic to question the motives of such people. To many of you, it's second nature to just accept it as the way it is.

It still astonishes me that people will decide - consciously - to have a child without once considering the financial impacts of doing so. No consideration to the fact that they'll probably both have to work, putting strain on their relationship both with each other and their kids, who never see them. Perhaps I have to offer the slow nod of understanding and state that nobody actually told us when we were growing up that children were so demanding physically, financially and socially. All the girls have when they're young is unresponsive lumps of plastic, broadly moulded to look like something that might resemble an infant. Dress it up, feed it whenever you feel moved to, hug it when you need comfort. Hardly representative of the real deal, eh?

But then again, it's pretty fucking obvious to me that the reality is a little more involving. I didn't need government sponsored education to realise that providing for a dependent human being is costly and demanding. I hesitate to call it common sense, as it's obviously not, but sensible for sure. I can't stand watching these programs like 'House of Tiny Tearaways' or 'Driving Mum and Dad Mad', where the viewer is subjected to the results of what can only be termed bad parenting. A few basic tips from someone who actually knows how to bring up kids brings an astonished 'I never knew that' from said bad parent(s). In a way this is fair enough, because nobody ever taught them how to manage children. But if they'd wanted to learn how, the resources are clearly available. So why didn't they? What signs were put before them that they believed they could create a balanced and stable human being that could add value to society rather than being a part of its now perpetual depreciation, without any help, education or experience whatsoever?

Ultimately, we have to realise that people are largely not capable of building the relevant conclusions of their own accord, and hence the decisions need to be taken away from them. Having a child should involve months of means based review - both financial and psychological - before anything is even allowed to be conceived. Pregnancy should go hand in hand with at least part-time education on how to handle an infant, and as the kid grows, the progress should be regularly reviewed and the parents subject to further education relevant to the age and progress of the child.

Otherwise we're not likely to make better parents than I can imagine cavemen were.

I know I'm just a querulous, whinging bastard, but I'm determined that I'm right here. And what the fuck is up with human rights, anyway? Why the hell should we be born with an extensive list of rights which cannot be taken away regardless of anything we do? The whole concept is stupid.

I think I've ranted anough for one morning.

IB

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