I wanna brown baby....

There have been two women of note in the press in recent days.  One is the rather scary-looking Joanne Watson from the Channel Islands whose claim to fame is not just that she has 14 children but that she is already a Grandmother twice over and now her 15 year old daughter is proudly due to give birth later this year.  The other is Nadia Suleiman, the woman who became known as "Octomom" in the States after giving birth to 8 babies to rack her total up to 14 as well.  


Needless to say (and forgive me if I am beginning to sound like a grumpy old reactionary here) Ms Watson is providing for her brood by virtue of astoundingly generous state benefits to the tune of around £2000 a month.  Sorry - scrap that - YOU are providing for her brood.  When her daughter Mariah has her baby, she will move out of the family home and into a state-funded development for single mothers.  And what does Ms Watson have to say about such rampant irresponsibility?  Well, she pays lip service to the idea of using contraception but why would any of her kids do that when they have her as a role model?  She also admits to being jealous of her daughter because she would like yet another baby!  The reason?  She wants one with dark hair - all hers are blonde.  It would be hilarious if it weren't so tragic.  It reminded me of this, which you may remember from some years back.

Ms Suleiman also - despite insisting that she would support the ludicrous number of children  herself - is apparently living off the state because of a back injury she suffered at work some years ago.  Didn't stop her carrying 8 foetuses though, eh?  Er, and all of them created by IVF.  Incidentally, the doctor who implanted the final batch has now had his medical licence revoked. He clearly didn't embrace the mantra the The Only Way is Ethics. (sorry).

Far be it from me to deny anyone their biological imperative - who would want to live in a regime such as that inflicted by China on its people - one child policy, enforced abortions and sterilisation and punitive repercussions for those who break the law - but am I missing something here?  15 year old Mariah says that she doesn't want the father of her baby involved.  Well that's okay then because, by default, that means that you and I will have to be involved instead.  And what are the chances of the rest of the Watson brood following in their mother's and sisters' footsteps?  Ms Watson has given birth to many more girls than boys, so can we expect them shortly to become the biggest presence in Guernsey?  Maybe they could take over the whole of the island in their ever-increasing numbers?  


Before I ever had children (and had any clue about how much slog is involved) I used to dreamily think that I would like to have four.   Although I have a huge extended family (27 first cousins!) I only have one sibling and I used to be dead jealous of my cousins who had four, five, six kids in their families.  Then I had a wake up call.  Actually I had several - the first being a totally traumatic birth experience with our son, the second being sleepless in Surrey  for what felt like feckin' years and the third being the Shah's offer to leave home if I ever contemplated getting pregnant again after our daughter was born.  Actually, thinking about it.....


But leaving aside the moralising for now, the thing that has struck me most forcefully about the Watson situation (and Octomom as well, to an extent) is the calm acceptance displayed by all involved.  There is no defensive behaviour, no bravado, no bragging.  It is what it is - utterly normal and acceptable in their minds.  I must be getting old because I find myself open-mouthed in disbelief.  There is undoubtedly a long and deep discussion to be had on the psychological reasons that women such as these two behave as they do and it is one that I am not qualified to enter into.  And I guess I could proselytise forever but Ms Watson is unlikely to take notice and yes, she is probably the exception to the rule and there are millions of single parents who confine themselves to sensible numbers of children whom they can support via their own efforts, but all the same .....