People always tell me, “Laureth,” they say, “You and your husband are the people that should be having kids.” Which is fine, except we cannot afford kids. The loss of income, either from paying for daycare or one of us quitting our job, would put us under.

“But Laureth,” they say next, “If everyone waited to have a kid until they could afford it, no one would have kids. But after they have a child, people learn ways to get by that they wouldn’t have thought of before. They manage. You will, too.”

So, parent-people, what did you learn to do after the kid was born that you never would have thought of before? I don’t mean the things you planned to cut when you were deciding on becoming a parent and negotiating from a position of strength. (“We’ll just go down to one car, and that will save a lot of money…”) I specifically mean the choices made under desperation, that were really not choices at all but what you had to do to keep going because you’d gone ahead and had a child.

Thank you.

Topics: economics, children, money, parenting, family, budget, choices