Baby On Board: Erykah Badu Expecting Third Child

1. i'm beginning to get sick of these celebrities glamorizing single motherhood. and in ms. badu's case glamorizing parenting three children with three different fathers.

tc at 1:29PM on Oct 7th 2008

2. I love my sistas, but we need to stop being so irresponsible with our reproductive ability. A 70% out of wedlock birthrate is shameful. Makes us look trifling.

Avril at 2:49PM on Oct 7th 2008

3. Having children by different fathers presents a very awkward situation for the children. Can you imagine what fathers day, birthdays, & holidays are like? Most likely the only father the children will spend special occasions with is the last baby daddy, providing he hangs around. Sooner or later the children are going to compare their fathers to each other. How do you explain to young children why things are the way they are?

Charlotte at 4:01PM on Oct 7th 2008

4. #3, You make a very good point.

I would like to know this: with respect to boys and girls coming into their own sexuality, understanding the dynamics and such...how do children from a multi-father family feel about their mom? Not saying that they don't love their mom, but I wonder: do they ever think about the fact that their mom has been with mulitiple men (not counting the men who didn't father her children). How does this effect a young man's mindset when he begins to become involved with young women...and vice versa? Having not ever seen their mothers in loving, committed relationships (marriage, NOT shacking up/playing house), will he ever feel the desire to be married? Will his mindset be that women don't expect more than sex and the ocassional overnight stay? What about young women? Will they even hope for marriage, or expect nothing but a revolving door of men in and out of their lives and bedrooms...just wondering.

Avril at 6:09PM on Oct 7th 2008

5. Uh-huh..I tried this "free love" stuff in the 70's after my husband and I split up. We had two children together. Then I had four more, by four different men.
I can tell you right now, that all that "different" blood in the house is worse than living in Iraq. I am nto be funny. Many times I would pass by a bedroom and hear, "So what, your daddy is in jail" or "at least my daddy brought us some Christmas presents" or "My daddy bought the school supplie". I thought it was halfway cute to call on various "daddies"to pay this bill, or come over and discipline.
It was not cute, then and it's even uglier now, with all the diseases and problems in the world today.
My children grew up without the benefit of a constant gfather, and as a result are still somewhat hostile towards me and each other, and whomever wrote about what happens when the children come into their own sexuality...well honey, its a nightmare. I am over sixty and I tell nothing but the truth. The stars are glamorizing what should be either discouraged or kept in the dark.
Blessings, young people.
You all have the right idea.
Miz Zee

Zenobia at 9:04AM on Oct 8th 2008

6. I don't see the big flukken deal with being married or not marriage does not mean anything these days. It certainly doesn't mean love and faithfulness or we are going to stay together. I know several men who have married and less than 6 months they have a side whore so what's the dealio??? I'm so tired of people saying that that stops the spread of HIV & AIDS that bull chit! You can marry and your spouse can cheat on you and give you a number of STD's U feel me? So, people act like you got some sense and be realistic stop living in the 30's and commenting about what a marrige is because it not what it once was we need to focus on what a marriage should be......

prettygirl84 at 9:09AM on Oct 8th 2008

7. Why is it a problem to have a child out of wedlock but ok to be sexually active out of wedlock. I assure you the majority of the people criticizing single motherhood are definintly having sex and probably with more than one person out of wedlock. God said be fruitful and multiply. Man said not to multiply. Also even though they said she was a virgin, guess what! she was pregnant out of wedlock. I also bet these are the same hypocrites that goes to church and preach God, but celebrate man.

denise at 9:09AM on Oct 8th 2008

8. My mother had 7 children with four different fathers but we could not have asked for a better mother. Yes we got into arguments about our dads sometimes but we realized when we got older that our mother had fell in love and the men just left her and it just happened again and again until she finally got married and has been married over 30 years.

jc at 9:27AM on Oct 8th 2008

9. i am single mother of 3 and they al have different fathers, and yeah they are dead beats. But to be a woman of 3 lovely children on my own you have to be strong. My children know what there dads are and are not doing so i feel as though there is nothing wrong as long as you raise your childen with love and respect you are doing just fine.!!!!

miss j at 11:17AM on Oct 8th 2008

10. Only people who've never had sex can judge Erykah Badu. For the most part, no one is without sin in this area even if they don't have children. Yes it's bad to have multiple "baby mamas" and "baby daddies" but that's just the byproduct of the sin of having sex outside of marriage, period. People shouldn't think they have the right to criticize just because they protect themselves. In God's eyes, everyone's guilty.

Jerry at 11:58AM on Oct 8th 2008

11. I agree with #8. My mom had four kids with tweo different fathers and we all love each other, and have helathy sex lives. There was no difference shown between us, and we didn;t argue about who's daddy did what.

Mrs. Winchester at 12:22PM on Oct 8th 2008

12. Wow! I am all for women having their own choices and making decisions. I myself am the single mother of one and I vowed for myself that I will not have another child unless 1. I am married and 2. I want another one. I think people get caught up in the moment and they are not considering the lives they are bringing into the world and all that goes into raising children whether you are wealthy, rich, middle class or poor. Children require time, love and attention. Nonetheless it is all personal choice so I wish Ms Badu nothing but the best as I cannot and will not judge her actions.

dreslilmama at 12:52PM on Oct 8th 2008

13. GIVE IT A BREAK TO MANY PEOPLE OR DOING OR HAVE DONE IT PRAY FOR THE WORLD AND STOP MAKING AN ISSUSE OUT OF EVERYTHING. WHAT WAS SAID ABOUT BRITTNEY SPEARS WITH ALL THE KIDS SHE IS TRYING TO HAVE

LINDA at 1:03PM on Oct 8th 2008

14. It's her business who she has kids from. As long as she's being a great mom and taking care of her kids, it's her business. People are always judging somebody, look at your own life before you put your 2 cents in on someone elses!!! At least she's not going around getting pregnant and having abortions or letting the government pay for them. Good luck Ms. Badu, and I hope you have a healthy bundle of joy!!

babyj at 1:29PM on Oct 8th 2008

15. #7 asked, "Why is it a problem to have a child out of wedlock..." 70% of black women are single parents. // Children of single mothers are five times more likely to live in poverty, and nine times more likely to do poorly in school, and drop out of school, than children who come from an intact, two parent household // 70% of African American boys in the criminal justice system come from single parent homes run by black women. // Black boys from single parent households are four times more likely to join gangs, than boys from intact, two parent households. // Research has shown that the connection between unemployment rates and crime is very weak, while the connection between crime and father absence is very high. // Boys in single parent households run by women are more likely to have no personal conception of what it means to acquire skills, find a job, support a family, and be loyal to one's wife and children.

For black women who proclaimed,"I don' need no man", the results of your selfishness are stick up kids, gang members, drug dealers, and illiterate young brothas who lack the education necessary to compete in an increasingly global society, who will be shut out because they cannot compete, and who will suffer the emotional trauma that comes with not having had a father. And please do not tell me that this doesn't happen to all boys from single parent households...it's happening to the majority. And it's killing our community.

The most selfish thing a black woman can do is bring a child into the world, not having provided a decent father for it. The next most selfish thing is to bring that child into the world and not bring it up properly. Another reason why our community is full of gangbanger, drug dealers and highschool dropouts, instead of scholarly young black men who aspire to greatness. YOU, black mothers, did this to our community.

Avril at 2:22PM on Oct 8th 2008