Family planning is a step that all couples reach, whether by choice or by chance. Sometimes, having a little bundle of joy arrive unexpectedly can bring blessings to your life, but at other times, it could delay the goals and plans you still want to achieve, especially if you have back-to-back babies. This is why talking about the family planning decision with your partner is crucial.
Whether you choose to go the natural route of family planning, or you opt for contraceptive assistance, this post covers eight reasons family planning will benefit you, your partner, and your future child(ren).
8 Reasons Why Family Planning Makes Life Easier
Emotional Readiness
When it comes to family planning, being emotionally ready for a child is crucial. While many people adapt and thrive with an unexpected pregnancy, sometimes, the opposite happens and the parents sit with pent-up anger and resentment during what should be a happy occasion.
If you and your partner engage in family planning early on, you’ll allow yourselves time to become emotionally ready and emotionally available for when you do choose to have your future child. This will allow you to be a more responsive and engaged parent at the end of the day.
Secure in a Career
Family planning gives you the opportunity to fully settle and secure yourself in a career that you love. How high you choose to climb the corporate ladder—or settle into a remote freelance position—is up to you.
Allowing yourself the time to become good at something that makes you happy will spill over into your parenting down the line. You’ll be able to better adapt your already streamline workflow to include the responsibilities of raising a child.
As you’ll have systems and supports already set up and in place, knowing where to pause or bring in additional help will allow you to be more present in your work-life balance. Becoming secure in a career also will allow you the opportunity to build up your financial savings.
A Mature and Wiser Outlook
Another intangible benefit that’s worth its weight in gold is becoming more mature and wiser. While planning for a child in your late teens and early twenties will ensure you have boundless energy for active games and hands-on time, planning for a child in your late twenties to mid-thirties allows you to develop a more mature and wiser outlook.
Allowing your and your partner the grace to mature together will lead to wiser decisions being made about your child’s future.
The Ability To Be Spontaneous
As strange as it sounds, family planning gives you and your partner the gift of remaining spontaneous.
If you want to go away on a trip with friends or family, you can. You can book a weekend away or jet overseas whenever you wish, finances allowing. You can choose to sleep in on a weekend or stay out late during the week.
Being able to be spontaneous when you choose to be and planning to become parents with different responsibilities is something family planning can help with. If you plan ahead you can decide when you want to be spontaneous for as long as you desire.
Well-Timed Travel
Traveling is expensive. When you have a little one in tow, your costs often double—having to pay for excess baggage to bring along a pram, another suitcase, and paying for a full adult-size seat. Then, in hotel rooms, you need to have an additional bed, and food costs swiftly add up too. This is why family planning allows you to still get your holidays in before the baby arrives. And if you plan well, in the future you can easily bring your little one with you without breaking the budget.
Financially Stable
While it’s hard to ascertain precisely what financially stable means for you, the general gist is that you have finances available to spend on the future of yourselves, and for your child. This could be any set number you work towards reaching or the amount you earn per month or year that will give you peace of mind. If you run your own business, you’ll need to know how to calculate profit margin over the long run and assess what stability looks like.
Being financially stable can be both a short-term and longer-term goal in family planning. But having a financial safety net gives you the chance to build resilience and help your family to weather any storms that may come.
Financially Planned For
After ensuring you and your partner are financially secure, you can start to ensure that the baby is actively financially planned for. This would involve saving for not only the expenses you’ll incur when the baby has arrived but the expenses you’ll incur during conception and the duration of a pregnancy. This will include physician or well-woman visits, ultrasounds, and hospital expenses. It can also include planning for a natural birth or unexpected c-section.
Then, you can plan financially for the baby’s first year and beyond, including toys, schooling, and holiday trips. How far ahead you want to plan ahead depends entirely on each family, but on average, most families plan for the first two to five years of childhood and continue planning beyond that once the child has arrived.
The Ability To Be Fully Present
By engaging in family planning, you and your partner are giving yourselves the gift of being fully present in all aspects of your lives. From being a carefree couple, you’ll be able to be present during moments that mean the world to you, without having to split your attention with a young baby in tow.
Ask any parent and they say the first few years of parenthood are a blur—coupled with sleepless nights and endless nappies. While this is a rite of passage in its own way, worrying about other responsibilities can split your attention from truly enjoying all the small moments. By engaging in family planning, you can fully be there for family and friends before taking on the responsibility of raising a child of your own.
The ability to give life to a new human being is both a wondrous gift and a huge responsibility. By using family planning methods you’ll be better able to enjoy your life with your partner fully, before embarking on the adventure of parenting.
