A School Budgeting Project Made My Daughter Not Want Kids. Here's Why I Don’t Blame Her.

The author with her daughter when she was 3 years old. “I wondered then, and still wonder, how many people try to survive the winter without heat, or go without food or medical care, because the safety nets that could help are too difficult to access.” The hardest moments were the times I felt alone and wished for another adult to provide an income or even to simply help me care for my children when I was exhausted and just wished I could rest. I wondered then, and still wonder, how many people try to survive the winter without heat, or go without food or medical care, because the safety nets that could help are too difficult to access. I don’t know if Danielle, with the five children she was assigned, found safety net programs that would help her make ends meet in her classroom budget, but I told Talia to tell her friend that my kids and I are still alive after 14 years of single parenting — but only because I’m one of the lucky ones. They have had more opportunities than I had as a child, but I can’t help wondering what our lives could have been like together if I had been able to work one less job, or spend less time jumping through bureaucratic hoops so we could have heat or enough food on the table.