This is obviously one of every parent’s worst living-nightmares. I can make myself cry just by thinking about this happening.

A fortnight ago I went to meet my ninety four year old Grandma off the train from Weymouth in Bristol Temple Meads train station which is pretty big with thirteen platforms. Prior to our previous rendez-vous in October I had reminded her of the policy for her to stay put if she alighted from the train and I wasn’t there to meet her. This time I had forgotten to reinforce this and due to a mix up of late trains arriving at wrong platforms I was waiting on platform 11 with a pre-booked wheelchair and friendly station staff to push her while she got off the train at platform 8 and wanderered off and out of the train station trying to find me (she actually ended up in a taxi but luckily we fouond her before she whizzed off into rainy Bristol).

It made me think that I hadn’t told my kids recently of my personal preferred procedures to follow if they ever get seperated from us or the people looking after them.

• They are to stand still the minute they realise we are not with them & to know we will be looking for them the minute we realise they are not with us
• They are to shout our name (not ‘Mummy’) as everyone is called mummy.
• I am not embarrased to shout their names loudly the minute they might be lost (very easy when they are small in a shop full of people and rails of clothes). Usually I very quickly hear a ‘Yeah?’ when I call them.
• They are not to go with anyone who tells them they can help find their mummy. They are to say ‘No, I’m not allowed to go anywhere with strangers. My mummy/daddy will find me her.’
• If they see me over the other side of the road they are not to cross but to wait for me to see them. It will help if they shout and wave.
• I do have a couple of wrist bands with my mobile phone number on but since we left London I haven’t used them

I generally am on full red-alert whenever I’m out of the house with my children and constantly ask them to hold the trolley/pram, or my hand and if they aren’t I’m always looking to see where they are and telling them to stay with me as I can’t look after them if they aren’t close. It’s well worth the effort and peace of mind

When we were deciding whether or not to have another baby after the twins turned 3 I scoured the internet for information to help us make this decision. Should we or shouldn’t we? Was it an insane thing to do or would it complete the family. Would it bankrupt us? Would we live in chaos and intolerable noise levels forever? Would a new arrival feel left out having older twin siblings? We had no way of knowing.

The strange thing about having twins is that although you have two children - which many would consider to be *plenty* it is wierd that they pass the same ages and stages at the same time and the knowledge and experience gained first time round cannot then be reused for a younger sibling. The huge wealth of parenting know-how built up over the first four years of having the twins helped us to decide that for us, another baby would (probably) be lovely. It felt like someone was missing, and we really could imagine ourselves in years from now having three grown up children round the dinner table rather than two. A friend of ours who also has twins who are now teenagers says he and his wife do look back and wonder why they didn’t have another to follow up the rear.

I came across this great writer in doing the research and her column about having three young children. It made me laugh and made me realise how busy/noisy/messy/relentless/exhausting having another baby would be…
Jennifer Eyre White

Like a Train Wreck (But In A Good Way)

By Jennifer Eyre White

I’ve been writing my column for a couple of years now, and this one is my last. I’ve had a blast writing for Literary Mama, and my favorite thing about being a columnist has been the emails I’ve gotten from other parents. A few of these lovely people have even asked me for advice on whether to have a third child. Since I have trouble figuring out whether I should have had a third kid myself — even 16 months after the fact — I’m probably not qualified to offer an opinion.

But if I were going to offer one, I’d start by asking some questions. Questions like, “How close are you to a Starbucks drive-through?” “Do you have easy access to a variety of high-quality medications?” “Are you comfortable with the idea of needing a cattle prod — or possibly a border collie — to control your herd of young?”

Lately I’ve been thinking that the most important question I should ask is, “What’s your tolerance for noise?” Because the difference between two kids and three is about 80 decibels.

[More…]

On Having Three Kids

By Jennifer Eyre White
http://www.literarymama.com/columns/degreesoffreedom/archives/000336.html

Where I live, just north of Berkeley, hardly anyone has more than two kids. I suspect it’s because so many families have two career-oriented parents, and kids are really bad for careers. Or maybe it’s because it’s so expensive to raise kids here. I dunno. Anyway, when Kennard and I decided to have our third child, we became something of an anomaly in our social circle. And after little Kirby was born six weeks ago, a lot of our friends started asking us, what’s it like having three kids?

Here’s what it’s been like so far. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been revising my knowledge of Gina Ford’s baby routines like a fiend since getting a new copy of her latest edition of the
‘The New Contented Little Baby Book: The Secret to Calm and Confident Parenting‘ .

When we first had the twins 5 years ago I was ready to put both babies out for collection with the glass recycling by the time we’d had them at home for 10 weeks. I could never leave the house, one or other or both were always crying, finding time to get myself dressed let alone getting teeth brushed and deodorant applied was tricky. On top of this we were invariably up feeding at least two - four times each night. For us it was hellish.

Respite came in the form of discovering Gina Ford and her miraculous baby routines when a copy of the TAMBA (Twins & Multiple Birth Association) magazine arrived with an article entitled ‘Do Parents of Twins Ever Sleep Again?’.

The article was all about introducing a tried and tested regular daily routine which meant each baby was fed before it was screaming the house down with dehydration/hunger, each baby was settled into their cot with curtains drawn at the precise moment they showed signs of being tired and the parents were secure in the knowledge that there would be several baby-free slots in the day (nap times) where essential chores could be achieved as well as the frequently overlooked tasks of eating & drinking (especially important for nursing mothers) and ‘luxury’ tasks like brushing hair, cooking dinner, speaking to a member of the outside world on the phone could be fitted in, even anticipated!

Read the rest of this entry »

Out of respect for the emotions of one of my very lovely friends I’m not going to spend a lot of my time writing about our latest pregnancy but wanted to jot down my thoughts on how this pregnancy will be as thrifty as possible (in sharp comparison to when we were expecting the twins and literally blew all our savings on baby related kit before and after they arrived).

I’m officially 12 weeks pg today and saw one live baby waving at us on the ultrasound machine today so am now allowing myself to think ahead with the practicalities of budgeting for the rest of this pregnancy and hopefully a new arrival in 6 months time…

1. Thrifty pregnancy testing.
Instead of forking out on a pricey pack of tests from the chemist (£10 per pack I think). I waited until my period was definitely late and then popped into the doctors. This was free. SAVING £10

2. No buying pregnancy magazines or books.
The magazines are all rubbish anyway as are just an excuse to advertise merchandise and are otherwise the same each issue (I may out a note out on Freecycle offering to take old pregnancy mags of people’s hands). SAVING £3 x 10 issues = £30. I can see the local library has a good stock of pregnancy/baby related books too so I will borrow a few of those rather than buying brand new as I did last time (only to give away a year later).

3. Telling friends who have had babies that we are in the market for any cast-offs they would otherwise be taking to a charity shop/Freecycle.
Have so far had offers of a moses basket, clothes, bouncy chair. We hope to also scrounge a baby carrier, door bouncer from somebody who no longer needs them. SAVING = £100’s
4. Charity shops and nearly new sales for maternity clothes & baby clothes.
My mum has already picked up a few things to fit my expanding waistline. I’ve told her anything from Next in a size 12 will be acceptable. She lives near to about 50 up market charity shops and volunteers in one too so I’ve tapped into a particularly rich seam there!I don’t think I’ve ever *needed* to buy new clothes for my kids as our parents have been so kind in bringing us bundles of nearly new clothes from charity shops but I do remember that it was very hard to go past the tots’ clothes in our local Tescos without being tempted or succumbing to their charms. This time we have no shops selling kids clothes near us so with a bit of luck I’ll not be tempted. I shall instead make a beeline for local NCT sales as they are reputed to be good for barely worn small people things. SAVING = £100’s

My friend Ruth and her partner managed to get a perfectly decent pram for £25 from the local newspaper. It doesn’t have this year’s must-have colour scheme but her 4 month old hasn’t noticed yet and sleeps like a log the minute he’s in it.

5. No buying of baby toys.
Now our house has a scattering of toys wherever I look I’m finding it hard to believe that I did buy my kids toys and books when they were still only very small babies. I have a lovely book called “Entertaining & educating your preschool child” (Usbourne) which shows you all the fascinating things you can make for tots out of boxes, ribbons, cotton reels and the like.Our new charge won’t need much in the way of toys as his older siblings have so much but also I now know that newborns actually don’t need stimulating every moment they are awake, they just like to watch, listen and snuggle.

6. No baby room accessories.
A baby or child really can thrive amazingly well despite not having fully coordinated fabrics, rugs, pictures, ruffles, frills, sleeping bags, cot bumpers, matching curtains… Incredible. This theory has been well tested in our house so, no, we won’t be taking out a Mamas & Papas store card. In fact shhhhh don’t tell the newbie if & when it arrives but it won’t actually have a room at all, it will stay in the guest room/my office when no-one is visiting and will bunk up with the bigger kids when guests are in town. SAVING = £100’s

7. Reusable nappies
Apparently expensive to buy if you buy them newand then do increase the amount you spend on washing machine electricity, detergent but surely not as Ow! as adding a hugely expensive packet of disposables to the weekly shop. There is a market for second hand reusable nappies on eBay.

8. Breastfeeding not bottlefeeding.
Not actually free as some of the propaganda suggests as you still need to purchase nursing bras, sterilisers, pumps & bottles (if anyone other than you is going to be allowed to give the baby some milk), pads etc. but certainly much much cheaper than a couple of £8 vats of powdered formula each week.

9. Less or no baby food jars.
Last time round I was working full time and would collect the tired hungry babies from nursery at 5.30-6pm. There was just enough energy to grab a couple of jars of baby food from the local chemist on my dash from the tube to the day nursery and to then feed them direct from the jars (cold) before they had their bath & bedtime. I assume this time I’ll be able to puree food that we’re eating and give to the smallest charge instead of buying prepared food for it. SAVING = £100’s

Things that we will have to budget to buy new:
Cot & pram mattresses (as recommended by cot death prevention charities);
Car seat (well actually we have one of the twin’s old one’s in the loft, I’m just hoping its not the one the cat piddled in);
Nursing bras.

See also ‘How to stop your baby wreaking eco havoc’ (Guardian Unlimited Sept. 2006)

My son really disliked peas. The way to get him to finally after years of cajoling him try some and announce ‘Yum!’ was staightforward but long winded in the extreme. I had to sow peas, grow peas, stake the peas, have the children pick the peas, shell the peas and only then did he feel the urge to put one in his mouth.

Bit of a shame I didn’t plant acres of the things as this evening he asked ‘Where are the rest of the peas we picked?’ (I ate them with my dinner last night) cue lots of boo-hooing about how he didn’t know he liked peas and now he does he wants to eat more but they’ve all gone! I feel a trip to the greengrocer coming on.

What I don’t know is whether pea plants are like runner beans and keep on producing more pods the more one picks them (perhaps yes as that’s the theory with sweet pea flower crops) or once the harvest has been taken is that all there is from that plant (like potatoes). I recall that the packet of pea seeds instructed me to plant another row or two every few weeks so I would have a continuous crop which makes me think perhaps the latter is true.

Veg growing, it seems, is very much a lifelong process of learning.

[Update - I just found this which is helpful for those new to pea growing like me]

http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_veg_diary/fruit_veg_mini_project_april_1b_pea.asp#Harvest%20peas

Harvesting Peas
Garden peas are best when slightly immature - when fully mature they become hard and loose the sweet taste. Harvesting them early also encourages them to produce more. As a guide, peas are normally ready for harvest three weeks after flowering. Peas quickly loose their flavour after harvesting, so pick them just before they are required for cooking.

The peas at the bottom of the plant will tend to be ready first, so begin harvesting here, working up as time progresses. When the plant stops producing peas, cut the top of the plant off and leave the roots in the ground to compost for next year.

Last month my daughter and I decided to create a mini pond in our rented garden with the hope of finding some frogspawn to come and live in it.

We built the pond from an inexpensive ‘tub trug’ and placed loads of rocks in it and around it so the small creatures could get in and out of it without drowning (according to our bee keeping friend Janet - even bumble bees need a rock to stand on when they drink or they’d fall in and drown). We used rain water collected from the rain butt to fill it and the final touch were a couple of pond plants bought at the Malvern Gardening Show (a miniture pink water lily and a water iris).

We never did find any frogspawn as everyone we asked claimed that the local herons eat all the tadpoles but instead we have enjoyed watching loads of birds discover the drinking facility. It also brings a small bit of height and interest to our newly created triangular herb/cut flower border and the two of us girls really enjoyed creating something together.

Making the mini pond:

The mini pond in June:

Edie and I watched some ladybirds ‘cuddling’ last week and photographed them.

Later in the week when we found our newly flowering aquilegas were covered in aphids I suggested we go on a ladybird hunt as they are good at eating all the aphids.

We were both a little surprised to find one who did in fact start gobbling the aphids as predicted when we placed it on one of the affected plants.

Yesterday we watched yet another ladybird lay some eggs next to the back door and both kids have been looking at the cluster through a big magnifying glass to see if any of them have hatched yet.

I pointed out a few ladybird larvae wandering the pine needles of last years Christmas tree (growing happily in a pot) to Edie but I wasn’t convinced that I had my facts right as they look so unlikeadult ladybirds.

Having just read this ladybird factsheet I now know that young ladybirds are just as good at getting rid of unwanted greenfly and whitefly and so should be treated as welcome visitors in the garden.

Usually a mother ladybird would lay her eggs near to a plentiful food supply (ie. on a plant with loads of aphids on) rather than a scorching, barren, south facing brick wall.

The female we watched lay two batches and then as the last egg emerged she ate it! The children were a bit perplexed by this and kept asking me why she did it and I really didn’t have a good answer other than ‘Maybe she was very hungry and she knew it wasn’t a good egg to hatch..’

A lot of lucky kids have playhouses in the garden which are smashing but they do cost a fortune. This new structure in the garden for our kids to play in cost £40 for materials (willow ‘withy wood’, twine and weed-free membrane) plus a half-day of labour. It looks quite pretty already but it should grow leaves all over it soon and will be a lovely leafy hideaway in our garden which has no shade at all for the children on a hot sunny day.

My daughter spotted a book in the adults section of our tiny local library and asked me to borrow it. We looked at How Does Your Garden Grow?: Great Gardening for Green-Fingered Kids (Hamlyn Gardening) by Clare Matthews and Clive Nichols that evening and were really excited to see so many great but easy looking projects and ideas with step-by-step lovely photos. Things like painting a couple of old tyres and stacking them to form a pretty pot for a small tree or shrub which could also be used as a seat for a little one. I showed the ‘Build a willow dome’ project to Bealers who to my amazement said ‘Get the wood & I’ll have a go at building that’.

After dinner I searched the internet for local suppliers of willow cuttings and found that it is only sold during the winter period Nov-March due to its dormant season (it starts putting out roots and shoots in spring and needs to be planted before then). A local supplier, JPR Willow ‘Living Willow & Sculpture Supplies’ had sold out of most of the bundles of willow but were still selling bundles of 8ft rods for £30 and could deliver on Monday but as we were near them on Saturday we picked it up instead.

One day’s hard graft in the garden by Bealers but with 6 of his nearest/dearest keeping him company in the warm April sunshine on Sunday we are now the proud owners of a new playhouse that will hopefully root and grow.

With just a small touch of irony we have called it ‘Withywood House’ as it is made of ‘withy’ wood but also because the large sprawling south Bristol council estate Bealers grew up on is called Withywood (if you click on the link you’ll see just how green and leafy a place it isn’t). His mum and step-dad still live there and they were here for the weekend while he built it.

Step 1: Draw a circle with a stick and a bit of string cut to the length of the radius. Apparently the rods should be twice as long as the diameter of your hut. Ours were 8ft so thehut is approximately 4ft across.

Step 2: Dig out the turf within this circle and edge it with compost so the rods have something nice to grow into. We put the discarded turf pieces upside down on the compost pile hoping that they will rot down there instead of growing.

Step 3: Peg in a weed-free membrane.

Step 4: Make the doorway with two strong rods.

Step 5: Start poking the 6 structural rods through the membrane and into the ground so that enough of the length of them will root and has a good foundation for the dome.

Step 6: Start bending them into the middle and tying together with garden twine.

Step 7: Create a ’supporting wall’ for the top of the door.

Step 8: Start adding the ‘wall’ rods in an oversized basket-weaving fashion working them in at an angle and parallel to each other in one direction then back the other way with the rods going in the other direction.

Step 9: Tie with twine at each intersection (not photographed because we left Bealers to it while we went to a four year olds party). Apparently this step takes some time.

I had such an inspiring post from a woman called Caz who has 5 children who admitted that getting housework done is a challenge but this very blog had inspired her. I was so flattered and so pleased that she’d written to me I thought I’d stop thinking about the garden for a while and think back to my new found skills of (basic) household management & how I keep on top of things when I’m so easily distracted & housework can be so repetitive, never ending and thankless drudgery.

Our house and my kids lives are relatively well managed due to a few basic mantras (mainly pinched from the FlyLady in the US):

1. Keep to a routine. My watch broke this week and it’s only now without it I realise how hooked we are to having lunch, snacks, bath and bedtimes at the same time each & every day. I discovered this miraculous way of living when the kids were just 10 weeks old and before this revelation I honestly thought I was going to have to run away to a foreign country I found new motherhood so awful & unpredictable. Our timetable for life with the 4 year olds is still basically the same routine we implemented back then (and regained sanity and peaceful lives) albeit with fewer naps and no more hour-long milk feeds.

   7am wake up; 8am tv off, breakfast, unload dishwasher, get dressed, washed, teeth brushed; 10.30am snack time for them (toast, milk)/breakfast for me; 12 noon lunchtime; 3pm snack time; 4pm tv allowed on (son glued to it, daughter helping me with whatever I’m doing in kitchen/garden); 5pm tea time; 6pm bath time & story; 7pm bedtime; 8pmish grown ups dinner; 10-11pm shower/bath, start dishwasher, bedtime.Another more relaxed routine I have is to do same chores on same day each week so that if it’s Monday I know it must be change bed sheets day, Wednesday is empty all bins and recycling as the bin men come early Thursday, shop for groceries on Friday.

2. ‘Progress not perfection’. I no longer get palpitations at the enormity of a series of tasks need to achieve abolute 100% tip-top condition and no longer shy away from a task. Eg. if all the flower beds in this house are over grown with weeds the fact that I’ve started weeding one of them is great, I’ll do some more on it when I can.
3. ‘Pick up after yourself’ & ‘Use loads of wicker baskets to chuck things in’ then every so often take the full one at the bottom of the stairs up to the top. I’ve got one right here next to me that I’ve chucked paperwork to be filed in. Tomorrow I’ll sort the papers into my filing cabinet and the basket may then be used to collect ‘things that really live downstairs’ or ‘things that the kids keep in their room’ or ‘library books to return’ or ‘cups/glasses from Bealers’ office that need a wash’. You get the picture. I wouldn’t be without my wicker baskets.
4. Leave a room in the state you would wish to find it in on entering it (ie. when leaving the house at least clear the breakfast things off the table and give it a quick wipeover instead of being greated by encrusted bowls of sour milk and cereals when you arrive home at the end of the day).
5. So much more can be done in 2, 5 or 10 minutes than one imagines. While the bath is running and the kids are ‘hiding’ in their duvet covers from one another I’ve got time to hang a basket of clothes on the airer or put away a folded basket of dry clothes, while the kids are in the bath I can wipe the sink and the loo (oh here’s another one… ‘A clean loo is so much easier to keep clean’ just a quick wipe round the boys area with a bit of toilet tissue is all it takes - it’s less yucky than wiping a baby’s bottom), write a list or a thank you note.
6. Get complete outfits ready for yourself and the kids before the morning. This doesn’t have to be last thing at night as I used to do (and then realise I was too tired to be bothered), the clothes can be put out as kids are getting ready for bed. This way no-one is running around looking for clean socks, matching trousers the next morning when time is short and tempers are too sleepy to be nice.
7. Wear lipstick/do hair nice and wear ok clothes instead of stained t-chirts, tracksuit bottoms. On the days when I remember this one (thanks Anna P. you domestic goddess) I’m pleased I did as I feel a better woman and the kids always say nice things about me looking so pretty. On the days I don’t I invariably wish I did as someone will ask me whether I’m ill or I’ll randomly bump into an old flame from yesteryear (damn that).
8. (This one can be hard) Remembering to feel the love for the house and the people in it when you are doing the same old, same old each day. As I peg out the clothes on the washing line each day & then dash to get them in before it pours with rain I try to look at each of the smaller garments and marvel at the fact that my kids are still so cute and small (usually at this point they start screaming at each other, pulling hair etc), that we’re lucky to have such nice things to look after, such nice food from the supermarket to put away, lovely lawn to mow, nice bed linen to lie in.

   The flipside of my constant guilt at how privelaged we are in western society compared with so many with so little is to be constantly grateful for my lot - I have extremely good health, a husband who loves and provides for me, a house which is more than adequate for my needs, a fine selection of clothes, healthy bright kids etc etc etc. If things ever feel rubbish I try to recall all of this instead of thinking ‘I can’t believe I only vacuumed this floor yesterday and now it’s covered in rice krispies and bits of paper again’. There are so many women in this world who would give almost anything to be in my position. Another thing which is not such a positive way of being grateful for my current role is the profound awareness that this period in my life is relatively short lived. My kids will be grown up and the house will be a very quiet, tidy place for a long time after they stop living here. It makes me sad to think this but somehow does enable me to appreciate being chief housekeeper right now…

Beatrix is Three

by Adrian Mitchell

At the top of the stairs

I ask for her hand. O.k.

She gives it to me.

How her fist fits my palm

A bunch of consolation.

We take our time

Down the steep carpetway

As I wish silently

That the stairs were endless.

What we ate today:

(Kids) Eggie Bread / French Toast & Frankfurters for lunch, Cauliflower cheese & refried new potatoes for tea.

(Grown ups) Hungarian beef goulash casserole with boiled rice

I was a tad taken aback by this comment I received today having suffered a miscarriage at 12 weeks just one month ago:

Do you think there is a conflict between your desire to be green, and to have more children?

e.g. see : http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2036598,00.html

David.

BUT then I read the article and was dumbfounded to learn that the debate on how to reduce or halt the predicted population explosion (lets face it is already happening in a big way as I reported 12 years ago in my degree level dissertation on the effects of uncontrolled population growth upon the environment which is needed to support human life) is simply not taking place at any level.

When I was studying environmental science at university in the early 1990s I couldn’t understand why no-one in the media was as fearful for the Humankind’s future survival on our planet & even remember people denying that there was any cause for concern at all. Really I shouldn’t be surprised to hear that the tough discussion about how we are to keep human population numbers to a managable level hasn’t even begun yet alone. Shocking though.

It’s such a strange situation that in less economically developed countries especially, very little money (for contraception) or education is available to help women and their families know that they can choose to have a smaller number of children if they wish.

Strangely it was only yesterday evening, before receiving this comment, while reading The Times Book of Space to my (way too young) four year olds I recalled my undergraduate fears and near obession about the terrible fate of humans if no-one in power started doing LOADS to stop the uncontrolled growth of our numbers. Especially in areas of the world where resources are scarce. I came across a page which told us how many people live on our planet (approx 6 billion) and that by 2050 there is likely to be twice this number. Blinking back the sudden tears I had to explain to the children that Yes, 6 billion is a bigger number than one hundred and eighty.

In answer to the (slightly tactless) comment about my desire to have more children (do I? I’m not sure. I was pregnant, now I’m not. <shrug>) and whether it conflicts with my desire to be green… Hmmm. It certainly crossed my mind more than once in the past that each person I create & raise increases the population by an unknown number dependant on how many offspring they have and so on (eg. my 93 year old grandma is now responsible for 8 people existing all of whom would have saved places on this planet if she’d never had kids).

My final thought is that I’m doing my little bit and my best no matter how small an impact that actually has on the saving our life-giving environment. This means I feel a tiny bit less awful about humans’ impending doom; my kids are well versed in the importance of living responsibly on the Earth (only today when we had to make an emergency plea to the bemused owner of the local laundrette if we could use his toilets today. As we came back through from his store rooms son asked me loudly ‘Mummy why does he use enormous boxes of washing powder which will hurt and kill the fishies?‘ while my daughter said thank you to him). Bealers and I like the idea of having three kids, especially because we had twins first time round and feel that another person is somehow missing.

I also feel that the Earth’s environment is going to need hell of a lot of good people who care to clean up the awful mess that’s been created and I’m rasing bright, strong healthy, aware children who will be in a position to do this. If we do have one more baby it will not be my fault that one day in the future humans will struggle to survive and will probably become extinct it will be because of eejits like George W. Bush who could have made a big difference but chose not to. Or will it? Oh god the guilt of caring so much…

All comments to this blog are always very gratefully received. Thanks to David for making my student passions come alive again.

Further reading:

• I was a little obsessed by Julian Huxley while at university. He was the brother of Aldous but a great Humanist, Environmentalist and generally very interesting man.
• http://www.overpopulation.org/
  

  It took the US 200 years to go from 7 babies per family to two. “Bangladesh has [nearly] done that in 20. Iran has more than halved its fertility rate in a decade.”
  Carl Haub - Population Reference Bureau

  Before, we didn’t know how to control pregnancy, we didn’t have the education, and people in the area were having nine or ten children. We have 18 families and no one has more than three children. The health of the children and mothers has improved, and so has the spacing of babies. Everyone understands the importance of family planning now. Vincente Jarrin and Maria Juana Jarrin Malca, Husband and Wife Family Planning Promoters in Pasquazo Zambrano, Ecuador
  2005
  

• Population and the Environment: The Global Challenge
  By Don Hinrichsen and Bryant Robey
  As the century begins, natural resources are under increasing pressure, threatening public health and development. Water shortages, soil exhaustion, loss of forests, air and water pollution, and degradation of coastlines afflict many areas. As the world’s population grows, improving living standards without destroying the environment is a global challenge.