by Lisa H Warren

Created on: December 05, 2008   Last Updated: December 11, 2008

Ask most people what a person should consider before becoming a parent, and perhaps the most common response would be, "Are you reasonably financially stable?" Most people recognize that it is not necessary to be extremely wealthy before bringing a child into the world, but that parents who struggle to feed and shelter themselves should not add a third (and innocent) person. The fact is a person's income level has nothing to do with the kind of parent he will be, but a basic level of financial stability cushions the parent and child from some of the destructive forces of poverty.

Poverty is not just a matter of who has to buy the cheap paper towels and store-label bread. It's about who can't afford to rent a two-bedroom apartment to set up a nice little home, or who has to live in subsidized housing in neighborhoods not fit for raising a child. Serious financial struggles permeate the mood of a parent, and if they go on long enough they can inevitably exhaust a parent to the point where she is incapable of giving her child the time and attention he needs.

Most people realize that there isn't often any such thing as a guarantee of financial stability, and most know if they wait for the ideal financial situation to have a child they may never have that child. Still, the fact is that somewhere between a guarantee of abundant wealth and permanent stability and "dirt poor", there is level of reasonable stability that a parent to offer his child what all children deserve. That level may not offer a parent life of never having to budget to pay the heating bill, but it will not result in a child's living with life's triple punch of a parent too stressed out to meet a child's emotional needs, an environment that doesn't always meet a child's needs for physical comfort and safety, and the mix of toxic factors contribute to a general feeling of being a "have not" in this world.

So, financial stability is an important consideration. There are, however, other, equally important considerations. Right up there with financial stability are the matters of emotional and mental stability. As with financial stability, it isn't necessarily required that any potential parent be a perfect specimen of emotional and mental health. No human being is a "perfect specimen". There is, though, that basic level of solid emotional and mental health that is a child needs in a parent, and one of the vital ingredients to strong emotional and mental stability is always maturity.

The human being is

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