In the News (“Grandchild or $650,000: Indian parents take son to court“): “An Indian couple is taking their son to court, demanding that he and his wife either produce a grandchild within a year or cough up almost $650,000. …

“they exhausted their savings by raising and educating their pilot son and paying for a lavish wedding.

“Now they want payback.

“‘My son has been married for six years but they are still not planning a baby. At least if we have a grandchild to spend time with, our pain will become bearable,’ the couple said in their petition filed with a court in the north Indian town of Haridwar last week.

Question: Do you think this request of the parents is legitimate?

Answer: This is a problem. On the one hand they are selfish. No one can oblige a couple to have children. I understand them. But in principle, there is no such law that a couple is obliged to give birth to children, and as if, by their parents’ request.

Comment: “Then return the money that was invested in you,” the parents say.

My Response: “Did you want me to get married in order to make you grandchildren?” It turns out that it is so. “I didn’t sign up for this.”

I’m just putting myself in the position of a victim. “I didn’t sign up for this.” But, on the other hand, the parents can also be understood.

I think there is a need for a society that should affect young people—to influence them in a way, so that they eventually have children for themselves. For themselves and for their parents. Especially in India.

Comment: You’ve been to India; you’ve seen it. There are a huge number of children and people, and still they give birth. One and a half billion!

My Response: It depends on the kind of society. If they are rich people with a good marital status, they give birth to two or three children, no more.

Question: So do you think that the parents’ request is egoistic, and their children are egoistic too?

Answer: The parents are not egoists. They really want grandchildren and they can be understood. But the children, of course, are egoists. They don’t want to do anything nice to their parents, they don’t want to burden themselves, and I also understand them in this, to burden themselves with raising children. But it is necessary to somehow come to an agreement after all. The case went to court. So it’s not easy. They need to come up with something.

Question: This is what is happening in the world right now. Many people don’t particularly want to give birth.

Answer: At least one or two children. Without this, a person is not considered a person. If he has no children, and he does not care about procreation, then this is an inferior person. It is considered so.

Question: But this does not apply if health does not allow and so on, right?

Answer: This is understandable.

Question: So a husband and wife who do not have children are not a family?

Answer: Firstly, such a family is not a family. There should definitely be both a boy and a girl in the family. Preferably both. But there are cases when having both doesn’t work out.

It is necessary to help raise the status of having children. We also have a problem with this, both in the state and in people; today people do not want to have children.

The Torah says, “Be fruitful and multiply.” But in fact, why breed, much less multiply?

Question: Why is all this happening right now? Why is there such a sudden desire not to give birth?

Answer: People want to take care of themselves. That’s all. On the other hand, children are also very egoistic. You invest in them for 20 or 30 years, and then they leave. Well, why then did I invest my capital, my labor, my funds, my nerves, and my strength? And where did it all go? It is an unprofitable business.

Question: And what to do in such cases?

Answer: Do nothing. Learn from mistakes. It all depends on the upbringing.

And the upbringing should be like this: “You must!”
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 5/26/22

Related Material:
Motherhood In Crisis
Will The Family Institution Survive?
Egoism Breaks The Boundaries

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