Family Planning is Very Essential

Mrs. Dipeolu was a young woman in her early thirties.  When she was a newly-married woman, she witnessed the death of an aunt who died of complications from the birth of her sixth child.  It was then she resolved to have nothing more than two children.

Unfortunately, her plan was never actualized. She knew of no way to actualize this and after two illegal abortions that almost left her dead. She’s terrified of doing it again and she is pregnant with her fourth child as we speak.  She is often tired from looking after three energetic and hyperactive children and her husband was just a trader in the market.  Obviously, his income was not enough to look after the family and she became malnourished.

She belonged to a sect that believed it was a woman’s primary responsibility to bear as many children as possible, after all God takes care of the birds in the sky and feeds the chickens who have many chicks.  This caused a lot of conflict within her.  On one hand, she wanted to live according to the dictates of her faith while on the other hand, she wanted to be free of financial and health worries.  She was confused.

Mr. Joju was a man who felt he wanted to have just two kids in life.  While he was dating, he discussed the topic of children with his fiancée who said she wanted to have six children.  He did not take her seriously as he felt he was the man of the family and it was the woman’s duty to obey her husband.

When he got married, his first child was a boy.  He was ecstatic and planned to have a girl to complete the family circuit.  Three years later, his wife gave birth to a set of twins! He was none too pleased but he felt, well it’s just three kids and hopefully he’d be able to look after them.  He had made plans with his wife to get an IUD so that she won’t get pregnant again.  His wife had other plans.

Two years later, his wife got pregnant.  It turned out that she never went to be fitted for an IUD.  The man was very unhappy.  He pleaded and begged his wife to get an abortion but she refused.  Some months later, she gave birth to another set of twins.  This was the last straw. Mr. Joju walked out on the marriage and left the five young children for the woman to bring up all by herself.  She had many tearful nights where she regretted ever trying to have more kids than her husband was willing to look after.  Alas, it was too late, as Mr. Joju was never seen again.

The examples cited above might sound extreme, but they are taken from real life. In our economy that is fast heading for a recession, we need to consider the fact that one cannot afford to breed like rats! Gone are the days where a couple chose to have as many kids as suited them just because they felt more was strength.  We need to consider the fact that the world is becoming overpopulated and Nigeria is just slightly larger than Texas, a state in USA.  Nigeria has a population of 170 million people and is projected to hit 200 million by 2050.  As it is, we are the 7^th most populated country in the world, and this should make us realize that this is partly why we are in the economic mess we find ourselves in as the country does not have enough resources to go around.  People often imagine that Nigeria is a rich country but as Charles Soludo was reported to have said when he was the governor of CBN, where all the money of Nigeria distributed equally, each person would have approximately $325, which is not as much as one would imagine.  This places upon us the responsibility to curtail our desire to breed like rats.

Added to this is the fact that with each passing generation, it becomes harder for one to raise children.  In the days of old, women had the help of the whole community in raising their kids but nowadays, people are more concerned with looking for their daily bread than with helping to raise another woman’s kids.  This means that one has to bear this in mind as childrearing is time, money and emotion consuming.

For those who want to control their fertility, I advise you to go to the nearest family planning clinic in your community for help with this.  I am not a medical personnel but I do know that there are a lot of options available for a couple who wish to control their fertility.  Some of these are birth control pills, male and female condoms, diaphragm, spermicide, Intrauterine devices, birth control implants among others.  The best thing is to see a doctor who will advise you on the best one to pick based on your physiology and needs.

For the women out there, always remember that childrearing is primarily a woman’s responsibility.  Do not let yourself be talked into having more children than  you are comfortable with because it has been shown that men feel a biological need to have as many children as possible, usually because all they invest is their sperm and money. This is why they are more likely to be promiscuous because biologically and evolutionally, they are trying  to ensure the continuance of their lineage! It might sound harsh to my male readers out there, but remember this and consider your woman’s health and emotional resources whenever the urge to breed comes over you.

Everything changes when a woman is pregnant. She’s usually not herself all through the period of the pregnancy and beyond that, although some woman say they love being pregnant. Majority of us don’t.

Till tomorrow…

xoxo,
Lush