Population Crisis & Child-Free Life: Culture, Policy & Future
A 60-minute session on one of the most personal choices anyone makes, and on why everyone else seems to have an opinion about it. Relatives want good news, parents want someone to look after them, leaders want a third baby, and a growing number of young couples are quietly saying not yet, or not at all. Is choosing children, or choosing not to, anybody's business but your own? Twelve independent cards; open three or four.
The opening question
When you were about ten years old, how many children did you imagine you'd have one day?
Everyone in the room answers this in one line before any card is opened. Write the answers down; you will come back to them.
The cards
12 ways into the topic
Each card is independent. Your group votes on which to open, and four or five is plenty for an hour. Behind every card sit three prompts, one at a time, that only appear once it is opened on the board. Unopened cards keep for next time.
- 1
Relatives Asking About Babies
You got married a year ago. Now every wedding, every phone call and every festival ends with the same question from an aunty: “So, any good news?”
- 2
Old Age Without Children
You tell your parents you might not have kids. Your mother goes quiet, then asks: “But who will look after you when you're old?”
- 3
Calling Childfree People Selfish
Your cousin says she and her husband won't have kids. They want to travel, sleep in and keep their money. Someone at the table mutters, “So selfish.”
- 4
The Cost Of A Child
You both earn well. You do the sums anyway: school fees, a bigger flat, a nanny, coaching, college. The number is frightening.
- 5
Children And Your Career
The baby arrives. Someone has to slow down at work, take the long leave, leave early for the school play.
- 6
Grandparents As Babysitters
Your parents finally retired. Then the grandchild arrived. Now Nani is up at six packing tiffin and doing the school pickup every single day.
- 7
Politicians Asking For More Babies
Your parents were told two was enough. Now you're told it isn't.
- 8
Bringing Kids Into This World
Heatwaves every summer. Air you can't breathe in winter. Jobs that might disappear.
- 9
Pets Instead Of Children
Your friends have a dog. It has a birthday party, a winter jacket and its own Instagram page. They call themselves its mummy and papa.
- 10
Stopping At One Child
You have one child, and honestly, your hands are full. But everyone keeps asking when the second is coming, so the first one won't be lonely.
- 11
Regretting It Later
You say you don't want children. Your mother just smiles and says, “You'll regret it when it's too late.” Her words stay with you longer than you'd…
- 12
Someone Has To Have Kids
The case that children are something we owe each other.
The line to leave with
If nobody had ever asked you, not your family, not your friends, not the country, what would you actually want?
More boards,more ways in.
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