Speaking of Children – Barbara Holland

‘Speaking of Children’ is an essay by Barbara Holland in which she delightfully and critically examines the idea of having more than one child and the consequent expenses of parents. The entire essay centers round the issue of having a single child is far better than to have money. The essayist goes on arguing the possible difficulties and disasters which the parents have it bear if a house is filled with many children. She has raised the most burning issue of overpopulation that has further generated series of challenges and risks to the living beings of the present world.

She begins this essay with a humble statement ‘one child is an appendage and more than one is a way of life’. The statement genuinely implies that single child like our body and we can attach him or her in our body and we can carry wherever we go or whatever our circumstances may be. But having many children in the house is certainly a matter of burden. It is obvious that it is quite hard for the parents to provide proper care and affection equally for their all children. Consequently the children are abided from good education, proper health care and other facilities, which are the key components for the overall development of children’s personality. Moreover they disturb the privacy between husband and wife without letting them chances of private talk related to their job, income, business and their experiences of their duty and so on. In a sense they need to be worried all the time for their future prospects as well as to satisfy their unsuitable demands of hunger and enjoyment. The essayist minutely examines some other dark sides in this regard like they make their house dirty, create unnecessary noise, and make wounds in their body, which ultimately goes in the hands of parents.

Eventually, the essayist makes an appeal to the readers so as to make us aware of in time from committing such blunder. She strongly suggests us to have a single child for the happiness and prosperity of family life. Every details and illustrations are quite prescriptive in nature that intends us to be aware of such mistakes. The essay is quite funny, humorous, informative in quality and filled with various fragments.

Questions Answers:

1. Does the essay speak in favor or against having many children? Give reasons.

The writer of this essay is speaking against plural children in family. She suggests that there should be a single child in a family. When there is only one child, it is outnumbered by the parents. In other words, the parents control the child. But if there is more than one child, the children control the parents. It’s not only that. There are many other advantages of a singular child. The parents can brainwash a single child. They can teach the child all sorts of good things including good discipline and good manners. The parents can provide many things to the child. They can buy all types of things that are required to develop the creative faculty of their child.

With two or more children, there are always problems. The rooms are always dirty with their toys thrown all over. It becomes impossible for the parents to try the telephone or piano. The telephone is always engaged by the children. The keyboards of the telephone or the piano are always dirty. With one child, one may very comfortably attain different parties, make holiday programme and so on. But, with plural children, it is always a counter culture.

The most important point is that with plural children there remains no privacy between the husband and wife in the house. They do not have enough time to talk to each other. For example, when the writer tries to speak to her husband or when she wants to be alone with him, she can’t do so because they are always interrupted by their children. So, nowadays they telephone each other from their offices. The next important point is that in the families where there are plural children, the guardians almost get no time for the works of their personal development.

So, when we compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of one child and plural children, certainly there is no doubt that there should be only one child in a family. In the same way, the writer also advocates for one child in a family.