CIKU'S BEEFS: Perhaps we need to stop having so many children

Have you noticed that the number of children one has in this country is inversely proportional to theirBincome? The more money one has, the fewer the kids they have.

The average suburban home has two kids per household. If you go to the slums, you will be averaging closer to six kids per household. My household has just one kid and I cannot imagine where I would find the money to raise another one. So just how does someone go about raising six or seven?

“Why do you have so many children?” I once asked a woman earning Sh3,500 a month. She laughed.

“Children are wealth,” she responded. “One of them might grow up to be a big person in our country and help the others.”

Interesting logic. One always assumes that people who have many kids do not have access to family planning. However, she was deliberately increasing the brood. She went on to explain how the Sh3,500 could be stretched to feed, clothe and educate five children.

When you sit down with such people, it makes you look at life differently. It makes you more generous with your tips. It makes you hesitate before you toss away something that can be eaten by someone else. Imagine raising a family of five with only Sh3,500!

CIRCUMSTANCES IMPROVED SOMEWHAT

Years later, her circumstances have improved somewhat and she is now earning Sh10,000. I asked her how the kids — most of them now grown-ups — were doing.

She shook her head looking sad. Two had died of illnesses. One hd dropped out of school due to pregnancy. One who was still in school was playing truant and had been out of school for a month even though he is sitting his KCSE exams at the end of this year. The last born is her last hope.

“You see? It’s good I had many of them. Two passed on, the other two have disappointed me but I have my youngest, who will do me proud,” she said confidently.

“What if you had had just one instead of the five?”I asked delicately. “Could you not have afforded a better school for him? Maybe better food, hence better nutrition? Would the overall quality of life for the one kid have been better and probably produced a scholar?”

She nodded, looking resigned. “Perhaps I should have saved all that money for my last born, my only hope,” she said. “One day my house will be his.”

My only hope. Are children a casino? Do we try our best to spread our risk in the hopes hitting the jackpot? Do we give birth to many of them for cheap labour? To toil on the land or take over our businesses? Because, God forbid that we should work hard and have no heirs who carry our blood.

Perhaps we need to stop having so many children. If it’s a casino, then let’s remember that the house always wins, especially when our circumstances are dire. Numbers don’t increase the chance of them being successful; it actually decreases the chances because resources that could have been directed to them are now divided among many.

With fewer kids, one can invest more in the health and education of each child, equipping the next generation with the health, nutrition and education that can lift this country’s living standards in years to come. Less is definitely more. And that’s no gamble.