Pedophobia

Ok, I coined that term (no clue if I am the first) but I think it is apt to describe an experience I had today.

I overheard a woman make one of those warm but potentially loaded comments strangers make to people. She told a man towing two children, "My, they must be handful!" to which the man replied, "Oh, only one of them is mine." Now I had passed by them and when I saw them, they were behaving just fine as far as I could tell, and the whole conversation in my mind seemed to revolve around how many they were ("Oh, no, only one of them is mine"). Perhaps I am jumping to conclusions, but it seemed to be she was saying, "You have more children than I would expect", i.e. a subtle way of communicating that you may have exceeded your quota of children by prevailing cultural standards.

If so, it would seem to be surprising, since last I checked two was pretty much the standard. (I believe in the U.S. the average is 2.1 children.) I might expect this comment with four. I'd overlook it with three. But two? I'm wondering if I am missing a trend.

Were I to have a quiver-full of children, and strangers made rude remarks to me about them, I would quote Mother Teresa: "How can there be too many children? That is like saying there are too many flowers!"

Or maybe I'd tell them my children would be paying their social security benefits. But that would probably be rude. :-)