About Family Planning

Mina and Audra talk about the economy, family sizes, comfort levels and more.

About Family Planning Audra Lowe: Welcome back everybody, time for hot topics. You know the recession is affected a lot of aspects of Americans lives including the way that couples view when and how many children they’re going to have. A growing number of parents are stopping at just one child say they couldn’t be happier about it. So is a one child family becoming the new norm? Also, we’re going to talk about your thoughts on a woman breastfeeding in publics and interesting stats about who feels most uncomfortable in that situation. So here to talk about those issues is Better’s Lifestyle expert and new mother to Tyler, Mina-Jacqueline Au. Good to have you back. Mina-Jacqueline Au: Thank you, thank you. Audra Lowe: And good to have you back too, Tyler. And let’s talk about this. You have one child, just had Tyler in five months ago. Mina-Jacqueline Au: Exactly, yeah. Audra Lowe: And they’re talking in this article about how especially in major cities where it’s very expensive to have a child. Mina-Jacqueline Au: Right. Audra Lowe: A lot of people are saying "one and I'm done." But they’re getting pressure from family and friends and people who say all the time. You need to give him a sibling. Mina-Jacqueline Au: Yes. Audra Lowe: It’s wrong it's selfish for you not to do that. They don’t realize it could be cost issue for you. Mina-Jacqueline Au: It could be a cost issue and I am telling you this. I actually have the same issue. You know, an option we are looking into a possibly having a second child. Audra Lowe: Right. Mina-Jacqueline Au: Of course we’ll talk about that later, he’s so young still. Audra Lowe: Exactly. Mina-Jacqueline Au: But you know, I actually sometimes think maybe I do only want one, and for me luckily, it’s not a cost issue but the fact that I have everyone in the world and I mean everyone telling me. “Oh no, he needs a sibling.” Literally, I mean they aren’t giving advice, they’re telling me. Audra Lowe: Telling you. Mina-Jacqueline Au: You have to have a second one. Audra Lowe: Yeah. Mina-Jacqueline Au: It’s quite annoying. Audra Lowe: It is annoying because everyone’s situation is different. Mina-Jacqueline Au: Right. Audra Lowe: What one work for family and what really annoys me, and I hate to say it, I know, please don’t write the letters, I’m just saying it. There’s always women that either don’t work that are telling me. You need to have more than one, two, three, four five kids, you know. And obviously, we’d love to have a house full of kids. Mina-Jacqueline Au: Right. Audra Lowe: But there are a lot of issues that go into it. The childcare, baby items, time. Mina-Jacqueline Au: Right. Audra Lowe: A lot of things are going into it and the economy has changed the birth rate so much since the 60’s. I think the one child family has doubled since the 1960’s and so. Mina-Jacqueline Au: Right. Exactly and you know, let’s not even talk about cost or anything. Audra Lowe: Thank you, right. Mina-Jacqueline Au: I mean cost, it is expensive. I mean granted – even in the school, I may think about that college. Audra Lowe: Right, it is. Mina-Jacqueline Au: But other than that, let’s talk about your time. A lot of moms are not like moms in the 60’s, the 70’s, even were they stay at home and they’re lives are dedicated to the baby and only baby. A lot of us, you, including are workings moms that are working long hours. Audra Lowe: Right. Mina-Jacqueline Au: And the fact that when you go home, you have a few hours with your baby. Imagine you have two. Audra Lowe: Yes. Mina-Jacqueline Au: Three, four to split it, I mean, and every family is different. And sometimes, it's not your position to butt in. Audra Lowe: And in terms of positioning to butt in, how do you feel about seeing a woman breastfeeding in a public though? Now I felt different about this issue because there’s a difference between a woman whose breastfeeding to me and she’s covered up, and the baby is underneath obviously -- Mina-Jacqueline Au: Right. Audra Lowe: Versus a woman who just – it's just doing it out. Mina-Jacqueline Au: It’s just there, hanging out. Audra Lowe: That would make people feel uncomfortable. Mina-Jacqueline Au: Right. Audra Lowe: But it’s a huge issue still continuously going on obviously, you know. Mina-Jacqueline Au: It’s a very controversial topic. I personally would not do it covered or not covered, but that’s a personal choice. I respect the moms that do it, I mean I walk around, you know, up scale malls even you see them just sitting in the middle breastfeeding covered up, and I respect that and that’s fine. I think the ones that don’t cover up, it's a matter of etiquette and manners, and it’s like you know walking into your shop with no shoes. Audra Lowe: Oh yeah, exactly. Yeah, well obviously we couldn’t get to it now but a lot of women who even have kids say that they are very uncomfortable saying it in publics. Mina-Jacqueline Au: Yes. Audra Lowe: So very interesting. Good to have you here. Mina-Jacqueline Au: Thank you. Audra Lowe: And you were a trooper, we’ll be back after this. Mina-Jacqueline Au: Thank you. Audra Lowe: He’s just sitting there just looking --