Kids Need Options is the title of Joseph Di Salvo’s recent article on the San Jose Inside website.
Mr. Di Salvo wrote about how there is a rising gang-related violence in the suburbs of San Jose. Basically as he talked about the rise in crime he also talked about how “kids need options” and that the typical intervention programs don’t seem to “do the trick” and are more costly than prevention methods.
Long story short he wanted to hear the readers views on alternatives for kids. My reaction wasn’t really an alternative for kids, it was an alternative to the parents! Responsibility has to be put back on the parents. And here is where I sort of got aggressive with it. Here was my response in full:
“Is it too much to say there should be some sort of limits to how many babies we can have?
Maybe throw an income factor into the mix? A credit report maybe? If you can’t afford them, don’t have them maybe? Just a thought as I see fellow young adults with no college degree, no jobs but a boyfriend making less than 30k a year and living with parents, popping out kids like its required of them.
And what about teaching these kids some self control? IT IS OK TO SAY, “hang on babe, I need to put the condom on”. Why not make that a cool thing to do!
I mean heck, if we can make cigarettes look like a swell idea, we should have the talent and skill to make wrapping it up “cool”.
On another note relating to over population, we are currently taking up WAY too much of the natural habitats of animals in order to make more room for us. This is also ever more relevant in some parts of Africa. Maybe the guilt of taking their land and stressing their survivial might encourage us to stop making so many kids that are practically doomed to fail from the get go.” <- I recently watched the animal planet… 
So tell me, what do you think about my reaction? Valid? Too much to ask? Isn’t there some sort of medium we can reach in concerns to the over growth of the population?
As I visit one of my favorite hiking spots, Castle Rock, up HWY 9, I look down at the city in sheer disgust. Though I love San Jose, it truly just looks like we’re this destructive fungus that infects an area, kills the foliage, and just takes over without much thought to the effect we have on our surroundings.
Keep in mind, I feel the child limit ban that is in effect in China is a bit much and a weak, unplanned preventative measure, but there has to be a compromise in the middle right?
So tell me your thoughts on my response to Joseph’s solution plea.
You can read Joseph’s article directly at http://www.sanjoseinside.com/sji/blog/entries/kids_need_options/.