Reader comments
Utah seeing a baby boom

What else is new? Why don't they consider adopting in our over-populated world? So selfish!

SO true ... I agree - aren't there children out there waiting to be adopted?

Tim and Joleen, why don't you both get married to each other and adopt. The world is in need of adoption especially to those that don't want to have their own kids. I have six kids and may adopt in the future. I know many LDS that have adopted kids from around the world. The world is not over populated. I have been to 47 countries (including China and India) and there is plenty of space and resources in this world. Stop listening to Hillary Clinton and Al Gore. It is very ironic that you claim it is selfish to have clildren. Quite the contrary it is completely selfless and a ton of work. The single, divorced, gay, anti-marriage lifestyle is extremely selfish. Look at your lifestyle and consider how selfish it is. Should you consider adoption?

I don't understand why starting a family is an extension of your LDS faith. A lot of people start a family that are not LDS. You should start a family not because it is an extension of your religion but because you want to enjoy them and continue your posterity. The article makes it sound as though the main reason they want to start a family is because they are LDS!

Selfish to have children? How selfish not to have children. Anyone who believes this planet is overpopulated has not traveled much. Remeber, the worlds fastest growing economies are driven by large populations (India and China, for starters). Try having our population drop by a modest 10 percent and see what that does to our economy/GDP. We have been buying the "overpopulation" myth for about three decades too long. Western Europe is on the brink of economic mayhem and we philosophically are trying to follow suit.

As for adoption, by all means encourage it. But if you point fingers at young married couples having children as models of selfishness, you are misinformed. Check the statistics in this nation on children being born outside of wedlock and it may sober you. Due to abortion on demand and the government perks for single young mothers, it is unusual for a young mother to be unselfish enough to carry a pregnancy to term and place the child up for adoption. Do you want our society of tomorrow composed of a majority of adults having been raised without a traditional two parent home? If you decry the Olsens and their Ilke as selfish, that's just what we will see. Perhaps a day will come when we will not only report on this trend, but commend young families like the Olsens who buck a short sighted pop culture.

Selfish? Raising children is far from selfishness. It is a lifetime commitment. Those who think they would do well with adopting are also very unselfish. Those who would bring children into the world and abandon them or harm them, now that is the ultimate shelfish act.

Adoption is a wonderful option. I guess you have adopted one of the children out there waiting for parents.

The main thing is that lots of children gives churches plenty of future tithe payers. The churches can't miss since the fallout is dumped onto the rest of society (welfare, tax burden, medical, divorce, education, criminal, etc). Over population is the earth's death knell.

Having children isn't neccessarily an extension of LDS religion. It's a socially and culturally accepted norm of LDS culture to start a family young. Any religion can have children! It's a *human* evolutionary practice to find a mate and pass on our genetic inheritance, not specifially a religious rite of passage.

The US has a childrate of 2.1 children per couple just barely over replacement. Most European countries are in the 1.1 to 1.5 birthrate. Greece is at 1.1 children per couple. What this means is that every generation, their country has 1/2 the population as the prior generation.

The social contract over there REQUIRE new immigrants in order to fund the retirement of the older generations.

As for having birth children, one reason is the LDS faith, which has the belief that these children exist BEFORE they are conceived. Understanding that religious doctrine can help understand the desire to have children. Without that understanding, then such birthrates will seem outside the norm. But that is okay, since we have religious freedom in this country, at least for now.

I am a proponent of just having children. Some people struggle to have kids, like we did, so we adopted. But we also have two biological children. I personally believe children are a great blessing. My wife and I would not be complete without them.

Having children is anything but selfish! It is the most selfless thing you can do. I have 5 children and there is not a moment for myself, except between the hours of 11:00pm-7:00 am, which of course I am too exhausted to do anything but sleep because of all of the selfless acts I have performed for my children and husband. Those of you who consider having your own children as selfish, need to realize life is more than just thinking about #1! Until you have been a parent, don't criticize people who are doing the best they can to be parents and raise decent children who will be an asset to society.

Adoption is great. But it is also difficult, expensive and Time Consuming. My wife and I have a biological 6 year old daughter and have tried to adopt another child for over 3 years. We tried domestic open adoption 1st but with all the parental right laws and lack of children (there are about 40 parents for every 1 child under age 2 available in the US)it seemed like and exercise in futility. So then when went international (China) and that has been a long process as well. As to the comment about selfishness. It would be selfish for a loving home with a husband and wife not to have children that can contribute to society in a positive fashion. We obviuosly have plenty of single parent homes producing children the studies show have a higher chance of being a negative influence. As in these children are more likely to serve prison time, not graduate high school, and produce more children out of wedlock, thus continuing the cycle. So let praise young married couple who want to have families. Lord knows this country needs them.

Do you have any idea how difficult it is to adopt? How many years and how much money it costs? It's not like picking up an unwanted puppy at the pound. In this state there are more couples waiting to adopt than children available by quite some margin. If you want to adopt a child from a foreign country you better have at least 20,000 dollars on hand. Obviously the people who made the first two comments are completely clueless on the subject!

That is the point, children are wanted! I wanted to adopt and someday I hope to. But I am currently too poor for the undertaking. Before you say something about a topic, try learning about it first!

Why can't the desire to have children be inspired by your faith? Especially when you consider the LDS church's perspective on families. This is a very acceptable reason to want to have children.

The desire to have your own children, and not adopt, is not selfish at all. It is unfortunate that there are so many unwanted babies. The men and women who create these babies are the SELFISH ones. Think about that.

Being LDS has given me a new perspective on families and marriage, that my non-LDS family members don't have. Having that perspective makes that desire to have children and a family stronger.We have 5 children, 2 boys of my own, 1 who is special needs. Having them in our home brings a special spirit to our home and allows for many fun and teaching opportunities that we cherish now and will forever. I am thankful to KNOW that my family is mine FOREVER. That is ONE of many reasons why we welcome children into our familes. Can you say that? I hope that before you go bashing someones beliefs, you learn more about it so that you will know why we do what we do! That would be the proper thing to do.

I agree with the comments stating that having children is the most selfless thing I have ever done. I have lost myself in raising my two boys and it has been worth it because they are very well adjusted good boys who are deeply loved by not only my husband and myself, but they have profoundly effected the lives of both sets of grandparents. One set who does not have a lot of possitive things to look forward to in life and the other set who have marital problems that seem to melt away in the presence of our children. I would give even more of myself to my children if it meant their lives will be better for it and chances are, because they will be raised by a two parent family who is devoted to their well being, they will grow up into fine young men who will have a positive impact in our society.

Perhaps you don't understand:

World population is expected to hit 9B+ by 2050. How many more spirits do you want?

World resources can hardly sustain the 6B+ population now not to mention the strains on the environment.

Learn something outside of the narrow views of Utah!

Is it an extention of my faith that I got married at 20 years old and have stayed totally monogamous in my relationship for 11 years (as has my hubby, who was 22)? Is it an extention of my faith that I now have three beautiful children, with another waiting one more week to come into our family? Is it an extention of my faith that I have grounded, loving, happy children whom I am raising to be good citizens and believe in God?

If all these decisions are extentions of my faith, then my greatest blessings are an extention of my faith! If I weren't LDS I doubt I would have made these choices as early as I did, but I can't think of a happier life than the one we lead here in our family!

having more kids than you can take care of by yourself is selfish. I can think of nothing worse than having my older kids raise my younger ones.