No, she's not getting a little brother or sister

People are constantly asking us, "When are you having another?" "When are you going to give this girl a little brother or sister?"
My reply, "Never," seems to really grind their gears. Why is that? Why are these people so indoctrinated into thinking once a couple has a kid, they automatically will turn into kid factories?!!?
We never intended to have a child. It happened the way most first kids happen. Details will be kept private, but you can use your imagination and come to same conclusion: a baby came out 9 months later.
Just because we never intended to have kids doesn't mean we're haters of kids. Some of them are pretty cute, at least for a while, and ours just happens to be one of them. Yes, we're biased because she's ours, but apparently, that's a rule of some kind. (A parent is partial to their own offspring, or some bullcrap.)
So because we're parents of a child who just happens to be cute, just happens to be ours, doesn't necessarily mean we're suddenly LOVERS of kids. It just means we have one, we like her, and we intend to keep her and take care of her.

Tell me, oh mighty reader.... Tell me where in the last few statements above, is there any mention of WHY we need another? I just told you she's cute, right? That we like her, right? We're keeping her, right?

So why muck that up!? Why have another? That's like saying, "My refrigerator is brand new, it works, and we enjoy the fact that it's perfect and running and will bring us years of satisfaction and joy, but ya know, we should get another one."
You already have one that does the job it was intended to do! Getting another would be like saying you're not pleased with the one you have and you're worried it may not be able to handle everything on it's own. (Not to mention how much it costs to bring it home and maintain it!)

When I ask people why they want more kids, they can't really give me a solid and honest and significant answer. It's always something like:

"Well, I come from a big family and love having a lot of people in my family, so I want that for my kids."
or
"Well, I want him/her to have a brother or sister so they'll have someone to play with and have some kind of support system around them."
or
"Well, I didn't have any brothers or sisters growing up and I always wanted one so I wouldn't feel lonely."

What's the common denominator in all of these "reasons?"
The parent is talking about what THEY want. It's all about THEM and THEIR needs.
Octomom is a perfect example. Everything she said about why she wanted kids was all due to how SHE felt and what SHE wanted and how bad HER life was when she was kid.

I'm sorry, but NONE of the reasons above is a good enough answer. It only reiterates what YOU want.

What about what your child wants!?!?

That idiot family who has 18-19 kids... Please tell me it's just a bad dream. Please. These poor kids who have to endure every year of their lives being less and less important to their parents. They become less and less of a single significant soul, and become more and more of a servant, a babysitter, and chore-doer. They never receive 100% of their parents' attention, love, cuddles, playtime, discipline, or knowledge. Instead, their time is divided into fractions of time to spent, usually with 17-18 other kids all striving for the same thing: Attention from their parents who don't have time for any of them because they're too busy creating more babies in the boom-boom room that will inevitably take up MORE of their time 9 months later.
It sickens me. Those sweet innocent babies never got ANY full on attention from their parents.
Sure, they're quick to their own defense in saying, "We love our kids! They get everything they need from us, etc."
Bullshit.

Every child born on Earth deserves 100% of you. If you adopt, same thing goes. That adopted child deserves 100% of your attention, love, cuddles, discipline, and as much time you can possibly have to offer.

You are a child's first and only defense against the world. It's up to YOU to be sure they are loved and educated and cared for with as many possibilities you can offer to them. They NEED you! They don't need another baby. They need YOU until they are old enough to think and do on their own with the tools you've given them to succeed.

How can you be sure your child can do that if you don't devote yourself to them? If you're splitting up your time between multiple kids, sure you SAY you are able to do it, and you're quick to defend yourself because you don't want to admit you COULD BE WRONG... but really?

When I think of how different life would be for our daughter if we ever considered another child, I CRY at the thought of not being able to be there for her every second of her life when she needed me. How could I possibly do that to her? Why punish her that way? I LOVE her! I want to be able to talk to her, hold her, take her places, show her new things, experience new foods, educate her about the world and all it has to offer her.... If I get pregnant, I'd be limited. I'd have to give up so much! I wouldn't be able to travel, I wouldn't be able to be there for her all the time because I'd have to rest or be all careful and not be able to play on the playground, and in the end:
I would have to give most of my attention to a brand new baby who will cost us more money and take away both attention and funds for HER future!

How will we be able to afford the things we want for her in terms of education, after school activities, clothes, food, etc, if we have another baby? Do you have any idea how much money babies cost!?!? It's insane!
And what about the life we wanted for us as a couple!?!? It's bad enough that we can't devote ourselves to our relationship the way we intended. We wanted to travel, to be able to be spontaneous and have an actual courtship for a long time, get engaged, get married with a beautiful ceremony, have a ridiculous honeymoon, and build an incredible house together!
We had to put those plans on hold for our daughter and we barely get alone time to ourselves in the first place! If we had another baby, we can kiss what little romance we have now GOOD-BYE!

And if we're not having a meaningful and romantic relationship, we will suffer...which in turn, will cause our FAMILY to suffer. Our daughter HAS the best of BOTH of us because we don't have any other kids to steal her time from us. She SEES the best in our relationship because we're able to go out every now and then on dates and re-connect and bond.

In 1 year, she'll be in Kindergarten. I'll be returning to work at that time with a degree after going to school while she's in daycare for a few hours a week. Our lives will continue in a direction that is positive for all of us. She'll come home from school with her homework and we'll both be there to help her with it. She'll have soccer games on the weekends and we'll both be there to watch her on the sidelines. She'll have troubles with friends and eventually with boyfriends as she gets older. We'll both be there to help her figure them out and hold her when she needs to cry. She'll get her driver's license and have both of us in the car telling her everything she's doing right and wrong. She'll have me shopping with her for a prom dress and her father will be there with a camera and money for the night. And when she's graduating from high school, we'll both be there in the crowd, proud and excited about her next adventure with college.

And when we're not there for all of life's ups and downs, she'll have her friends, her cousins, and her own set of life's tools to help guide her through it all. She'll have the knowledge to face it all because we, as parents, were able to instill in her as much love and support as we possibly could because we weren't tied up with other kids.

I never want to look at her face, drenched with tears, ask her "what's wrong" and hear her say, "You don't have time for me anymore..."

Support WHAT!?!?

Recently, a high-upper in the military was accused of bad things and the critics were quick with their ridicule and usual comments about how terrible his offense was, etc. Radio shows were alive with callers from both sides arguing about whether or not it was even a legitimate charge against the guy and if there was any real merit to what he had done as being wrong or right in the first place.
Here's my argument: WHY THE PUCK should it even BE an argument? If some guy who is supposed to be a leader in a position of high rank even be given a second chance at all? I don't care if you're in the military or not, this guy did something wrong and acted like a teenager and made poor and unacceptable decisions. There should be no second chance or even a slap on the wrist in my opinion.
All these guys were calling into the radio show saying all this crap about how the host didn't know what he was talking about because he wasn't a soldier, he had no right to an opinion because he doesn't know what it's like to be part of this "brotherhood," yadda yadda yadda.

Bullshit.

What a lame fucking excuse for immature behavior. I have friends and family in the military and I would HOPE that they have nothing but the highest standards for themselves and their fellow members.

I'm NO fan of war, of taking other human lives for the sake of safety or any means. I think it's a cowardice thing to do because people can't use their intelligence to work things out in a calm and orderly way. Religion, greed, and politics seem to govern how people react to things these days and to me, that seems a little primitive in comparison to how the world is actually operating on a technological and more advanced way of thinking. If we're so fucking smart, then why are we resorting to these drastic measures to "work things out?"

So it seems to me that a military operation should be operating on the HIGHEST of standards, especially when considering their paychecks are determined on tax dollars created by the working class citizens they claim to be protecting.

So... if I'm one of those people, shouldn't I be the one to have the most say in this matter? Shouldn't WE THE PEOPLE be the ones who make up the jury to dictate this guy's fate?

I was brainwashed in school by people telling me that I should be saluting members of the military. I should stand and greet them with the highest honors and respect them because they're risking their lives for my freedoms and my safety. So, doesn't it make sense that I should
speak up and say "I refuse to salute someone who doesn't represent MY safety and freedoms with respect?"

Say what you want, military or not. But I refuse to salute anyone who can't take this job seriously, conduct themselves professionally, and present themselves in manner that demands my respect.