How About An Audrey?

My husband sent me an interesting email from work this morning. The subjuct line read "How about another Audrey?" There was a link to a news story in the body of the email. I clicked on the article and read that the French government was trying to encourage more families to have at least three children. The thought being that the birth rate in France remains one the lowest in Europe, and to maintain a respectable population growth, they would like parents to have as many children as possible. As an incentive they were offering families up to 900 euros per month plus other subsidies in child care and housing, etc.

To put it bluntly - I love my two daughters but I do not wish to have any more children. I know my mother could have thought the same way, since I am kid number 3. However, we live in a different time now and raising one child is exceedingly expensive, let alone three. It's the reason why both of my brothers and their wives each have only one daughter.

The inventor of this idea clearly is not a woman, definitely doesn't have any children, and certainly is not an entreprenuer. Otherwise he would know that 900 euros or roughly $1,000 USD would not cover the extra expenses of having a third child.

He would also know that the average entreprenuer doesn't have time in their day to run behind another child nor do they wish to shell out all that money to a babysitter. Last, he surely knows that encouraging women to have more children keeps them at home and out of the workplace, where quite frankly it seems, most French men would prefer their women to be.

With childcare, food (I forgot that they expect you to breast feed), and clothing (also forgot that they expect you to stay at home and not work) and just sheer loss of time, means this not a workable solution for most families. Now Philippe has a best friend, and they already have three children. Talking to his wife recently, she told me that she'd love to have at least two more! God bless her.

My reply to my husband's email? "I don't think so!" in the subject line and no explanation in the body. He replies next with "It was only a joke." My final reply, "It better be." I think we'll sit this one out and let other French people worry about growing their own population.