Children

When I was given this gift, it came with the blessing, "We hope the next time we see you, you will be married with four children." I was surprised by the speaker's remarks and but looked up to see the entire room nodding in agreement. This the first of many times that I would be told I should have children.

When I taught a class of teachers how to write personal essays, many of them had a thesis focusing on children, including, "Children bring joy to their mothers," and "Women need to create new life."

In general, I found that women take their role as mothers very seriously and want to have many children. Sons are especially important to Kazakh families, because the girls will marry and go to another family, while the youngest son is expected to care for his parents.

Coming from a place where I can choose to have children or not, this seemed like it would put unwanted pressure on women. However, they seemed to embrace it. A lovely teacher from my school told me that her first husband had passed away many years before and her children were grown. She had just remarried and she wanted to have children for her new husband as well, so that he could have a family.

My host father told me that his wife had promised him 17 children but had gotten tired after 4. I laughed at his joke because I could tell that he was so pleased with his wife and the family they had created together.

Kazakhstan is a huge country with a very low population density. The president uses national policy to encourage parents to have more children. This includes tax breaks and paying for the hospital bills at birth. Therefore, both the culture of the country and the state encourage large families.