Children are a blessing we should never spurn

Many of the causes they advocate for, such as a reduction in plastic waste and CO2 emissions, have a sound basis in Jewish tradition. We are strongly encouraged by our faith to be environmentally conscious, stretching back to God’s instruction to Adam and Eve to protect the Garden of Eden.

Yet, in their passion for their cause, the same movement has also turned its focus towards those who have larger families, encouraging society to look down on their personal family choices and even publicly shame them for doing so. 

In the most extreme example of this, a recently formed international coalition entitled ‘Birth Strike’ seeks to recruit women willing to commit to not having children at all, in order to prevent “climate breakdown and civilisation collapse”.

In an interview, the founder of the movement, a singer named Blythe Pepino, emphasised the widespread support she had received. In particular, she highlighted the people who had expressed thanks to her for, “speaking out about something that I didn’t feel I could even talk to my family about”.

From a Jewish perspective, the argument in favour of larger families is perhaps more obvious. The Biblical commandment to procreate, pronatalism, or the encouragement of young Jews to marry and have children, has long been a stated, or at least implied, goal of communal leaders worldwide.

With the immense numerical losses suffered by our people within living memory, a sense of duty to replace and strengthen the remnant who survive is almost self-evident.

Yet, thinking more broadly, it is damaging for society in general to encourage a mindset which looks at having children as a problem rather than a blessing. 

At the heart of many of the challenges we face as a society, including the environmental ones, is a consumer culture which encourages immediate self-gratification. It is this culture which fuels the insatiable desire to have ever more ‘stuff’ in life, which in turn leads to the exhaustion of natural resources and the potential environmental catastrophe around the corner.

Yet, human beings have always had an inbuilt mechanism which prevents them simply thinking of the next thing they can obtain or own for themselves. This is an overriding focus on giving, in every sense of the word, to the next generation.

Raising children generally involves extreme self-sacrifice. It requires the ability to delay self-gratification in almost every area of life, be it sleep, food, money and above all, time.

Furthermore, a family lucky enough to have two or more children create future citizens who better understand what it means to think of others, rather than their own immediate needs. There are always younger or older siblings to consider. 

Placing the ‘childless by choice’ on a superior pedestal therefore risks creating a negative societal attitude towards those who choose to have children — and particularly those who choose to have more children than the number deemed ‘normal’ by society. In turn, this arguably risks losing the very values which are essential for the healthy functioning of society in the first place. 

Recently, my wife and I participated in a BBC documentary focusing on the influence faith has on the decision to have a larger family.

During that interview, I made the point that for society at large, family size is an intensely personal choice. It is affected by countless factors such as health, economic situation, and cultural setting. 

Yet I also stated that I had a real problem with a sinister trend developing in our society to look down on those who decide to have more children. Much as we correctly view with distaste those who engage in so-called ‘fat-shaming’, we should be extremely wary of this trend too.

Children are always a blessing — and the society which begins to develop a mindset which thinks otherwise has started down a very dangerous path indeed.