Wow, some of you people, a lot of you people, really need to catch hold of yourselves and hear what you're saying.
"I never got my license to live
They won't give it up
So I stand at the worlds edge
I'm trying to break in
Though I know it's not for me
And the sight of it all
Makes me sad and ill
That's when I want
Some weird sin"
I get what you're saying, and I know it's dodgy ground, but I really find it impossible to argue against a license to have kids. If I can't go out and get a tortoise tomorrow without being assessed as capable of looking after the thing then why is it fine for me to have a kid? Not only fine, I would actually be rewarded (were I female) with a free house and free money*. The only issue is enforcement. If I get caught with an unlicensed tortoise they'll just take it away and probably put it in the bin, that's not quite so easy with humans.
My views on this would probably be wildly different if I ever intended to have kids myself. As it stands other peoples unwanted, nuisance kids are just a pain in the arse and if they required a license before they could have the little fuckers it would have no negative impact on my life.
But it's not just for my own benefit. Having a kid when you're not emotionally or financially capable of dealing with it is surely not good at all for either you or the kid. When I hear of, for example, my wee cousin being pregnant with some random wee guy's wean and splitting up with the dude about a month into the pregnancy, claiming her free council house and setting herself up for a fulltime life as a single mum on benefits I just think "What the fuck are you doing being pregnant? That's fucking shite for that wean". It's extremely irresponsible and the consequences are apparent when I can see a 3rd generation of giro babies being raised right now. There's areas round here where it's unusual for a 16/17 year old to not be single and pregnant. My wee cousin that I mentioned, that's what all her pals are doing. Her wee sqad from school. They're not off to college, or uni, or travelling the world, or even just working in Asda. They are all young, stupid, single, with at least one child, living off benefits with no intention of that ever changing.
If it was possible to have a way of saying "Hold on, you're 16, you don't have any money, you don't have any qualifications or experience in doing anything, you are not ready to have a child yet. Come back in a few years" then I can't see how that wouldn't be a good thing.
Fuck me, I sound like a cunt haha. Fuck it, I stand by what I've said.
* Yes, I know it's not quite as clear cut as that and no, I wouldn't actually want that life.