So, they ask again...

I absolutely hate it when the in-laws and everyone else asks me the question, "any kids yet?" When I say no, they say, "Why, you can't have any?" The older Hmong generations always expect people who are married to have kids right away. It's not that I can't have any kids, it's just that my first priority is school. I don't think they realize the fact that I want children, but in the future. They say that I should have two or three children right now so that I won't have to have anymore when I'm old. What's considered old? I'm only nineteen and I think that I'm too young to be popping out children right now. They never consider the fact that I want to finish school (which is not far away), have a stable job, and buy a house before I have children.

I must have been asked this question over twenty times this past weekend. It was so annoying! They always say that because my husband is older than I am (and we've been married for three years), we should be having children. I don't think that my husband being twenty-five is old. The majority of Americans have children around the age of thirty these days. Some older Hmong folks still have children when they're almost fifty! I also don't think that being married for three years is long enough to start having children. I want to be married for at least six years before I start having children. So, when the elders ask, I always say that I'm not ready. Finally, when I see the elders I have to remind myself that they will ask over and over again, non-stop!