Parents or Children, Who Owe the Other?

Children live their lives believing they owe their parents a lot of favor. This belief develops because parents spend their whole life taking care of them. Parents invest millions of shillings in taking care of their children. Therefore, many people claim that children cannot repay the care they receive from their parents during their growth and development. People spend their lives trying to repay their parents’ efforts in bringing them up, which is honorable. However, is it true that our parents did us a favor by bringing us up? Is it a favor that we ought to repay? These two questions ring in my mind all the time.

Firstly, nobody ever requested anyone for birth. Nobody ever applied anywhere for birth. The decision for our birth was made by one, if not both, of our parents. Regardless of the circumstances (love, rape, etc.), the decision to have a child solely lies with the parent, family, or society. A couple can decide to have a child; a family can pressurize a couple to have a child, or a society can prevent a parent from having an abortion through laws that prohibit abortions. Sometimes, health can also play a part in the decision of birth. For example, a parent may not opt for abortion because it risks her health. This challenge needs further exploration. However, this article focuses on parents, family, and society as decision-makers for birth. The decision to give birth lies with the parents, the family, society, and nature (health concerns).

Since children do not decide to be born, they are the products or consequences of their parents’, families’, and societies’ decisions. It is parents, families, and society that bring children into existence. Therefore, they are responsible for living with the products or consequences of their decisions. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the parent to take good care of the children.

Responsibilities are not favors. Parents, families, and societies have to do what they ought to do for their children because they decided to have them. Although it may sound harsh, children owe parents nothing. You do not become indebted to a person who fulfills their responsibility towards you.

Parents owe children a lot. They owe children because they brought them into this world to live unhealthy life from birth to death. According to the WHO, health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being. Rarely do people meet this criterion of health. This implies that nearly all of us are unhealthy every second of our lives. So why should children feel indebted to their parents, yet they spend every second of their lives unhealthy? Our parents owe us our entire lives.