It then got me thinking about my contribution to the population with our new born. It used to be said that parents should have 'one for mum, one for dad and one for country'. Of course this was while Australia was trying to build up it's population and skill base after WWII. Now it's a slightly different story. Australia is looking for skilled labour. The days of opening the country to the dislocated and therefor poorer, low skilled labour are gone. We have plenty of low skilled labour of our own now. And for the record I think two is enough. My wife is not so sure, but that is another discussion ;-)
I have observed in the past that immigrant family's that came to Australia in the 50 and 60 worked hard to give their kids everything they never had. But (and at the risk of stereotyping, I generalise here) their off-spring thought life was easy and so never worked too hard, either participating in anti-social behaviour or relying on welfare in some way shape or form.
So how do I stop my kids from becoming that way inclined? (Although I was born here, my parents immigrated from the UK in the 50's as kids) This is a key question of parenthood for me. I want my kids to be better and more successful than me - I believe that this is something that drives humanity forward. Early learning is, for me, a key method of attaining this. By instigating a love of learning at an early age I hope that my children will want to actively learn and be part of the community, bringing new thoughts and insights to help which ever part of the community they choose to be involved in.
And so this is how my modern family looks tonight, as Anneliese looks on while I blog.
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