wintersday
If people cant afford to look after their children, they shouldnt have them in the first place.
If 'people' sat down with a calculator to calculate the cost of raising just one child over the next 16 years and, at the same time, attempted to forecast the economic climate (something over which they have no control) covering the same period together with crystal-ball-gazing into the events that might or might not happen to them personally; as Miss Adventure points out - this forum would be empty.
Having children is time-limited, there is a cut-off point - it's not something you can put on the to-do list once you are very-definitely financially stable; in fact unless you are fairly wealthy, you will always be susceptible to changing economic forces... maybe we should only allow wealthy couples to have children, eh?