Healthy, happy and quality families

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 06/27/2006 3:52 PM

Indonesian couples have overwhelmingly embraced the idea of having smaller families, and family and friends often encourage each other to plan their families.

Samidi and Yanti Sujiyantinah are a couple living in Jakarta who work for the government and have two children who attend junior high and elementary school.

The couple cites financial considerations, health concerns and the quality of family life as reasons for adopting family planning and for having only two children.

Forty-five-year-old Samidi says from the economic point of view having many children would only create problems in raising their children. ""I would have trouble educating them, monitoring their health and their behavior outside the house,"" he said.

He says planning their family has allowed the couple to give greater attention to raising their two children and has also helped his wife stay fit and healthy.

""With family planning my wife can maintain her beauty and youth. If we had many children, my wife would look exhausted,"" he said.

Meanwhile, his wife Yanti Sujiyantinah agrees with what her husband says, saying, ""By maintaining my beauty and youth, I can always look attractive, at least to my beloved husband,"" says the 38-year-old mother, jokingly.

Thanks to the family program, she says, she can enhance her role, not only as a mother and wife but also as an employee.

""With only two children, my husband and I can give adequate attention and affection to them. For instance, we can assist our children in doing their homework when they are in need of help,"" she says.

""Or on weekends or on holiday, we can spend time out together with our children for leisure activities, such as by taking a trip to a particular place or just visiting relatives,"" she added.

Apart from developing a sense of togetherness with her family, having a small family also allows her to develop herself as an individual, which she says is important to her. ""Besides going to my workplace every day, I have more time to do my hobbies, like cooking and reading magazines or books,"" she says, adding, ""Life is becoming more enjoyable, dynamic and not monotonous,"" she says.

Explaining that when she first decided to participate in the family planning program she was somewhat apprehensive because ""I have to use contraceptives to avoid having more children. But thanks to consultation with midwife Dionysia Artiningsih, I am confident about using contraceptives,"" she says.

With the positive effects of having a small family, she says that participating in a family program can enable families to have a healthy, happy and quality family life.

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