What the hell have I done?   When the Beaver was growing up, Mr. Cleaver's biggest parental worry was whether the poor kid was queer or just extra tidy. These days, there's a whole slew of new problems. Fifty toddlers drown in buckets every year More than a quarter of boys living in cities are arrested before their 18th birthdays One in 600 children has Down syndrome One in 100,000 mothers will kill their children this year. Every year, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome inexplicably kills 6,000 American babies less than a year old. One in 10 kids eventually becomes drug or alcohol dependent Almost two-thirds of kids currently between the ages of 5 and 17 will die at a relatively young age due to lack of exercise. The risk of conceiving a child with serious abnormalities surpasses 5 percent when parents reach age 35 Seven toddlers in 1,000 are seriously injured by chains every year. At least one in 2,000 babies will be born with genitals that aren't clearly male or female One percent of pregnancies are "ectopic," or occur in the fallopian tubes, resulting in miscarriage or death Infant mortality rates increase by more than 50 percent when the mother smokes. Mothers with STDs may give birth to blind, retarded, brain-damaged or stillborn babies About one in every 800 new mothers fall into a suicidal depression loaded with fantasies of harming their children Nearly one in five pregnancies end in miscarriage Cesarean sections are expected to account for 40 percent of births by 2001 As many as 3 percent of fetuses die as a result of a badly administered amniocentesis There's a 14 percent chance a baby will be born seriously premature, resulting in hospital bills totaling as much as $200,000 About 10 percent of American fathers are caring for a child they think is theirs A newborn boy has a 25 percent greater change of dying before his first birthday than his twin sister There is a one in 100,000 change that a woman will have conjoined twins. Roughly 70 percent of school kids find it far easier to buy drugs than cigarettes. One in 100 kids will develop schizophrenia later in life. The majority of parents claim to have been happier before they had children. Source: FHM January-February, 2001 *    *    * Families with babies and families without babies are sorry for each other. - Edgar Watson Howe Disclaimer | Privacy Statement Menstuff® Directory Menstuff® is a registered trademark of The National Men's Resource Center™ ©1996-2023, The National Men's Resource Center