Once upon a time, when a parent had 14 kids at the house, it was for a birthday party or slumber party, or it was 1870 on a farm.

On Jan. 26, 2009, Nadya Suleman gave birth to octuplets. With six children at home already, that brings the total number of children to 14.

As her story matriculated, a public outcry enveloped her home state of California. No one factor has been cited as a rallying point for the outcry; surely, several factors contribute to the backlash.

First, Ms. Suleman is a single mother with six children between the ages of 2 and 7, including one child with autism and two with undisclosed medical disabilities. Many single mothers have successfully raised children, including the mother of our current President, Barack Obama. But parenting 14 children takes the effort of more than just mom, or even of mom and dad. It takes grandparents, relatives and a whole community.

Ms. Suleman doesn’t have the support system of a husband or ex-husband; rather, she has a friendly sperm donor from her fertility treatments. On the maternal side, there is one grandmother who has stated that she is already overworked taking care of Suleman’s other six children.

So we have one mom, one grandma and (hopefully) an armada of volunteers to help raise 14 children. This does not sound like a recipe for success, so far.

Maybe Suleman is wealthy and can afford nannies? Sadly, this is not the case, as she has been on disability for close to a decade, stemming from an on-the-job back injury. It is estimated that she received payments totaling almost $165,000 over that time period-not quite the rock-star money needed to afford everything for a woman and six kids. She does receive $490 in food stamps, as well as disability checks for three of her children. Worse yet, she has admitted to spending almost $100,000 on fertility treatments to have many of her 14 children.

Thankfully, she has a website where you can send donations-either check or credit card, for your convenience.

For those keeping score at home: We have one single mom, one grandma, six children between ages 2 and 7, eight newborns and no real source of income, other than welfare, food stamps and whatever the grandmother makes.

There is also the estimated cost of hospitalization for the eight children, which is $1.3 million (payment sought from Medicaid.) The Department of Agriculture estimates that raising 14 children to the age of 17 will cost between 1.3 and 2.7 million dollars.

Suleman is therefore 2.6 million dollars in the hole and looking for a television deal and some “Huggies,” if you can spare them.

This is what I am proposing as a solution to the problems, questions and nation-wide anger that this issue has raised: A parent test.

When young girls reach puberty, they should be implanted with NorPlant, to prevent pregnancy. You do not have to tell them they can’t get pregnant-make it part of a regular screening and give them the normal abstinence education.

When a person reaches age 23, they can take a test to see if the birth control method may be removed, so that a child can be conceived. Questions prerequisite for removal will include the time a person has available, the community support available, income, living conditions and so forth. If one receives government aid, then one is not allowed to have another child. It is that simple. If one does not have the resources and ability to take care of and support oneself, then it is obvious to me that one does not have the resources to raise and care for a child.

In a country where one must have a license to catch a fish, drive a car, practice medicine, give a pedicure and so on, does it not make sense to have some regulation on the most important thing you can do as a person? Giving birth to and raising a child is the most difficult enterprise a person can undertake. If there are rules, regulations and knowledge required to do everyday mundane things in this world, why are there not requirements to be a parent?

A half dozen should be enough, because eight more is just too much.

Lew Griffith is a graduate student at Saint Louis University.