While I'm all for personal responsibility there has to be a few 'leaps of faith' in life.
The thing with kids is that one you have them you cant give them back. Houses are a bit the same way at the moment given the market.
So my point is that, without a crystal ball you cant know for certain that you'll always be able to care for your kids and pay the mortgage, you should have a reasonable expectation that you can before you set the irreversible train rolling but some things like:
- becoming unemployed
- become long term ill
you cant legislate for. You can insure against to some extent or minimise the risks, but that is it.
So I do feel sympathy for a family where one or both loses their job or gets sick. Whereas if neither was employable in the first instance then having 6 kids was always going to lead to tough times.
Now while this might sound like a charter for the wealthy, that only they should have kids or houses or a good lifestyle, I'm afraid that the reality approximates this. You can live off the state to some extent, which I wouldnt ever fancy doing, but really you have to play with the cards you are dealt and if you knowingly try to play beyond them then you're heading for trouble. If you want 6 kids in a council house then fair enough but you should know before you start that it wont be easy.
Work hard, try your best, generate some better 'cards' and then play with them. Too many people want to blame others, expect others to bail them out, and their lack of personal responsibility for anything is one of the main causes of their problems.