How much to raise a child?

[prk888]

" deliberately fathering a child when there is a much higher chance of bringing a handicapped child into the world is just irresponsible, "

This is a perfectly reasonable point from Thai Beach Lover.

But, when I consulted two doctors about the odds of dwarfism, both said it was caused by a genetic disorder in men whose probability increases in old age. They both said that dwarfism is extremely rare, and much less likely than having a baby with Down Syndrome from a 35-year old women. That correlated with my own research on the net.

When asked to quantify the odds, one said 1 in 10,000. The other said: about 1 in 60,000. One said that the odds with me were even lower since I didn't used mutagenic (gene disturbing) drugs such as pot or LSD. And both cited the fact that I had just fathered a healthy baby as lowering the odds.

A Taiwanese midwife, who I had used in one birthing and who said she had delivered 3,000 babies, said "Don't worry. You're not using drugs are you?"

With odds like that, I went into the project enthusiastically.

Both late arrivals, by the way, are extremely intelligent. The older one, is partially home schooled by me, and partially schooled at a good private school in Bangkok. She was so advanced in reading that I had to go to her school principal and tell her that she (my daughter) was complaining about the reading assignments because they were too simple. The school, to its credit, started a small "advanced reading" group to accommodate my little girl and two other young girls.

My other daughter (the dwarf), doesn't have the same advantages. She lives with her mother up-country. The mom is loving, caring, and intelligent, but unable to home school. Too tired after farming (her own farm) and holding down a second job selling insurance. It never ceases to amaze me how much parental involvement means to the mental development of a child.

I don't know for a fact, but I don't think it's the Thai schools that hold kids back. It's the lack of parental involvement. The old sister of my last daughter (the dwarf), is not my child. But she chose to stay with me in Bangkok for 4 years, going to a Thai school. With just a little bit of help and push from me, she rose to the top three in her class in math and English.

Now, she's back in Ubon with her mom and wants to come back here for that help and push -- even though I don't let her wear those tight-tight shorts that the young Thai teens seem to love.

I guess to her I'm just a grumpy old granddaddy but she loves me anyway. And vice versa.

Just having fun (in Bangkok)

P.S. For those of you who enjoy words, "granddaddy" is only English word I've found with two double "d's". Can you find another?

how about the one word that has three consecutive double letters ........................