Raising a family

There are many reasons Allen and I put off having kids. We kept saying we weren't ready but there were lots of reasons behind why we weren't ready. But also, I've always been terrified to bring a kid into this world. This world has turned into an ugly place and I'm a little ashamed to raise a child in it. 

It used to be you could trust people to do the right thing and be nice. But today, it's like you always have to watch your back and you just can't do the right thing anymore. There are so many bad people in this world. I go to schools often and though there are lots of great kids around, schools are a scary place these days. There are gangs, drugs, weapons, really bad language and the list goes on and on. These are things a kid shouldn't have to deal with so early in life. 

All every parent wants for their child is for it to live a happy, healthy life. I'm not any different. I want to be able to give my kid whatever he/she needs. I want to provide a good life for them and raise them into a polite, successful young person. 

But on the flip side, if my kid screws up, I want to be able to give them a butt whooping and not worry about going to jail! It's sad that parents are afraid of their kids. It probably has a lot to do with why kids today are so disrespectful and mean. I know Allen believes in spankings and though we have agreed not to spank our child with any object other than our hand, we have agreed that spankings are necessary in child raising. 

Allen and I were raised very differently so coming together with our very different backgrounds to raise a child will be interesting. There have been some very interesting "discussions" over things with our animals so I can only imagine it will be even more lively with real kids. But in the end, we want the same thing.We both know how the other was raised and we know what we want to do differently and what we want to do the same. 

But it's scary to think that we are somewhat responsible for how our child turns out. We are responsible for taking this tiny little life and raising him/her into a good person. It's a huge responsibility and perhaps the main reason why we delayed having kids for so long.