I have been having some ongoing issues with my wife that unfortunately aren't going away.
It involves children.
Firstly, I have been hoping to having a second child, but it seems my wife is not receptive to this. She is of the view that another child will get in the way of her career. Although this may be true, I just don't think one child is optimal, and it is actually not fair on our first born either.
I keep telling my wife that there is no one-child policy in Australia, but she simply won't budge.
At the end of the day I have to respect her wishes, but what she told me the other day really upset me.
By way of explaining why she didn't want another child, my wife told me that she asked her mother whether she should have one, and then her sister in China whether she should have one. They both told her that it is too expensive to have another child, and for her to refuse my requests.
I became very upset by this revelation, because my wife should be discussing these matters with me, not her mother and her sister.
It seems that important decisions about my family are being made by an elderly lady whose view of the world is of a by-gone era, and by a woman who lives in China and was only allowed to have one child.
Well, what about my views? What about our child who has often asked for baby brother?
And regarding it being too expensive, well I am a medical professional for heavens sake. Money is simply not an issue.
What really bothers me is that she would not have told me this if I didn't push her. She simply decided, between herself, her mothera nd her sister, and I would have not even been informed of this very important decision had I not been persistent.
In her defense, she claims that Chinese women do not involve men in these decisions. I told her that I find that quite remarkable, that this is a human right, and that no father would willingly take no interest in the size of his family.
She keeps trying to explain things by saying that as a Westerner, I do not understand.
I think that's true, I do not understand. But that does not excuse her behaviour.
