Joey and his girlfriend plan to get married in a year, when they are both 19 and working. they both come from large, loving families and hope to have at least five children. joey plans to get an expensive car and a nice apartment as soon as he has a job. his future wife wants to work until they have their first child when she is 20 and then stay home to raise their family.
although joey's parents like his girlfriend, they feel that young people are not financially prepared to start raising a large family immediately and should work for a few years to save some money before taking on the added expenses of children. they tell joey about the difficulties they had raising joey and his brothers and sisters. they talk about the time that their car broke down when they had no savings to fix it and how joey's father had to ride a bus an hour each way to get to work. "it is much easier to save money before you have children," he has said many times. "children are a great joy, but they take every penny you make- and then some." in 2013 the u. s. department of agriculture calculated that it costs a middle-income family $245,340- to raise a child from birth to age 18, not including the cost of college. for low-income families, this figure is $176,550.
why do his parents want joey and his girlfriend to wait a few years before starting a family?
a. they feel that it's important to work for a few years and save some money before starting a family
b. they feel that joey and his girlfriend are too young.
c. they don't like children
d. they don't like joey's girlfriend.