Prompt A

I found an essay on Quotidiana called "A bachelor’s complaint of the behaviour of married people" written by Charles Lamb. Most of the essay pertained to how people change after they get married, and would have been an essay similar to one I would have written previous to being married. But once you get married, you usually understand why your friends changed once they got married. But that is not really the point. There was a section where Lamb refers to the children of married people, and how you can't win with children. He says how if you ignore them you are accused of not liking children and if you play with them, the children are viewed as obnoxious. It brought up a new point in my issue of people liking children. Do some couples decide not to have children because they don't want to have guests be annoyed by their children. Or possibly because they feel like having children would affect their social lives negatively? I have been focusing my thoughts on people not wanting to have children because they are a burden. And wanting to have children because the cute moments make having the burden worth it. I haven't really approached the issue of what happens to a person socially once they have children. And what happens if someone doesn't like your children. Maybe they don't visit as often? Lamb speaks of the fact that no matter what the parents are like, children are their own people, and aren't necessarily going to be pleasant to deal with for a friend of the parents. Sometimes maybe parents just assume that everyone will love their children as they do, and that is most definitely not the case. It is an interesting twist on my issue that I may want to address.

1 hour 10 minutes