The real reasons Americans are having fewer kids
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ก.ย. 2024
- Many economists and politicians are alarmed that Americans, like others around the world, are having fewer kids. But, apart from wanting a growing labor force, is this really a problem? Opinions columnists Shadi Hamid and Heather Long talk with Style columnist Monica Hesse about what’s really behind the baby bust and whether we just need to prepare for a lower fertility future.
Single motherhood due to being abandoned by your partner is my nightmare fuel!
The millennials and Gen Z have been told from birth that the world is overpopulated and about climate change. No, historical women don't have many kids during times of instability. While Sweden and Norway have made great strides, even there 90% of the time women do the majority of the child rearing. Thanks to social media we've been comparing notes and have realized that it's a bad deal for us.
We were told from a young age to not have kids until we were financially ready. My parents made it very clear that kids born out of wedlock was not an option. Nor were they going to be taking care of grandkids when we were prepared.
I'm currently 32, married and taking steps to make sure my husband and I are ready for our kids when they come. There's nothing wrong with family planning, even if the kids come later ❤
I came from a large family in an affluent suburb, the smaller families had a much easier more pleasurable life. It must have had a profound effect on me along with my brothers and sister. None of us wanted, or had, a large family.
I don't see it as rocket science, when women have a choice, way more choose not to have kids. This is true globally. There's SO MANY downsides for women, risking their life, pain of pregnancy/childbirth, cost, career loss, on and on and on, that men simply don't have to take on. So it's simple, if a woman can support herself financially (so doesn't need a husband's income), why would she have a kid?
I'm not convinced. I personally think raising kids takes an extraordinary amount of energy and fortitude and with the rising tide of mental illness with the major symptom being fatigue I think both men and women are too neurotic and despondent to handle raising kids.
Exactly. It’s really not that complicated. It just leads us to an uncomfortable revelation about contraception and reproductive rights, which also forces us to reflect on our identity as a country.
@@squeakypistonproductions2228 You know, both can be true and compound the issue.
Have you SEEN Korea's work culture? AND the social expectations on women who might shoose to have kids?
@@TheStephaneAdam Oh for sure. I was just offering what I view as the main driver. Something that is left out of the convo for the most part.
I personally think raising kids takes an extraordinary amount of energy and fortitude and with the epigenetic rising tide of mental illness with a major symptom being fatigue I think both men and women on average are too neurotic and despondent to handle raising kids.
I think we're simply being rational. No, women still take on far more risk than men, no matter how liberal the country. We still do 90% of the labor even in Sweden and Norway. It doesn't make sense to bring a kid into such a chaotic time. No, I know plenty of people who'd love kids but either have fertility issues thanks to all the chemicals we've been exposed to or simply can't afford it/don't want their kids to have to suffer what happens next. From birth millennials and Gen Z have been told that the world is overly populated and that it's harming the environment. No, the more kids we produce and especially in the developed world, or God forbid America, the harder it is on the environment and the more people will die. Besides, it's not like our global population has even slowed down yet. No, while most of the world is below replacement rate, Africa is a glaring exception. My guess is they'd love to come to the west if we let them. No, in my opinion, the BS the Republicans are spewing about women being selfish is little more than them showing how racist they are. They're thinking short term. No hell if AI won't take over most high level jobs by 2035. In fact, the most skilled jobs will disappear first. No, by every possible metric, the future looks rather frightening. Why in the hell would we want to have kids right now when we could lose our jobs any moment and not just temporarily but permanently.
“Epigentic rising tide” does that word have a particular meaning to you or you just throwing it in there to be fancy because I don’t think it means what you think it means
@@chad872"Epigenetics" has a very specific meaning and is very intentional. Epigenetics is physiology that determines phenotype with out changes In the DNA . It's extremely unlikely that the current mental health epidemic is caused by genetics. Rather, epigenetics. Everything from histone modifications, chromatin remodeling, DNA methylation, and very importantly fetal metabolic programming are ways the environment can interact with our biology to drastically alter phenotype. For example. Children born to surrogate mothers reflect the health of their surrogates more than their egg donors. Mental illness is not inextricable from metabolic health either. Mothers that are obese or have metabolic syndrome when pregnant significantly increase the chance their children have psychiatric issues. The body is filled with many adaptive systems that control gene expression. If one or multiple of these systems are exposed to a poor environment during development this can drastically alter phenotype lasting through adulthood.
Sorry if this is confusing. It's not an easy concept to grasp I know but look into it if you're curious. Its not something they teach in grade school lol and it's fairly recent. 1998-
@@chad872 I know exactly what it means. Why do you disagree with my use of it precisely?
@@chad872 DoHAD, killing me softly, Barker hypothesis and many many animal studies and epidemiological studies give strong that supports the conclusion our mental health epidemic has an epigenetic underpinning.
It’s expensive AF to live, we work more, need more education & standards of parenting r Much higher . It’s ALot of stress on women
Much poorer countries have much higher birthrates...
@@squeakypistonproductions2228 That’s not much of a selling point. If you have the choice to avoid being poor, you’ll take it. 😂
@@squeakypistonproductions2228 They get to use those kids as labor force and as pension plans, so it's worth it. Industrialization, urbanization, and so on destroy birth rates each time.
I also joke about how many people actually had sex with a goal of making babies, and how many only exist because ponus in vagoo feel gud.
@@squeakypistonproductions2228 Because in poor agrarian societies kids are free labor and your only possible retirement plan.
And you have much worse chance to have any given kid reach adulthood.
Heed the call when it comes and honor the sacred work of parenthood. Adoption is a great path for women over 40. Very little will make you more fulfilled. ❤🙏🏽
I remember being a kid in a large family. No way I wanted to be in that environment again. It was a miserable experience.
Why specifically because it was a large family?
@@fishmonger7020 People all have their own selfish motivations for having kids. They don't really consider the kid prior to dragging someone into their life. It's all about what they want. Rarely do people actually have their lives together enough to provide the requisite attention. It's like when people acquire pets then proceed to neglect them due to insufficient interest.
@@wthomas5697 What does it mean to have your life "together enough"? You think having kids is motivated by selfishness? What about a "large family" was terrible?
@@fishmonger7020 I often think about how many end up on childfree reddit. They were stuck as an unpaid babysitter, and that led them to conclude having kids is bullshit.
@@fishmonger7020 They haven't examined their behavior patterns and motivations closely enough to know whether they are competent to take care of kids. That's what is meant by "together enough".
Of course having kids is selfish. People do it for their own self centered purposes. Either they want people they can manipulate to fulfill their desires or, even worse, they just want to get laid. They lay all their expectations on some unsuspecting little being. Think about it.
People who are unqualified to properly look after even one child have no business dragging six into the world. It increases the magnitude of suffering.
I am so glad that my daughter will grow up in a world where neither marriage nor kids are considered mandatory.
Excellent, response! Excellent, excellent response when he asked about the # of marriages now vs twenty or thirty years ago.
Spoiler alert It’s expensive and time consuming… today’s workplace pays poorly and we’re working longer hours…. No one thought to include an economist in the conversation?
I disagree strongly with what you were saying at minute 18. I had the entire world telling me how wonderful it would be to have a child, but I had no idea how awful it would feel to go night after night without a decent night of sleep. The campaign team for parenthood has always been super strong.
18mins .. ONE OF if not THE most INTELLIGENT, THOUGHTFUL, common sense, " why DIDN'T I think of THAT, " takes on why people are having LESS children. Minute 18 HUGE FACTOR! BRAVO 👏🏻👌🏻👏🏻👌🏻
Hmmm - I learned little from this except the opinions of the people talking. I would have liked some more knowledgeable people discussing this, frankly. Style columnist? Really?
Scenes of children acting out at restaurants and planes and parents just allowing /ignoring it…. There was a point in the past where you did not go to these places until your children could behave in those places….. something happened in the 80’s where parents thought more of their night than anyone else’s….. to the point they don’t take the child outside after screaming for 10 minutes …. We the public must suffer your children…..and I saw all the issues early on and said “no thank you”
Missed or under thought a lot of key points. For example; yes, the birthrate is below replacement, but the family size for the 80% of women choosing children is not down much. Rather it is the 20% of women choosing not to have any that drags the average down. Beware immigration as the solution. Canada is a proximate example of the challenges. Minimize the fiscal challenges at our collective peril. Witness Japan. Lastly, there are no quick fixes. It takes 20-40 years to actually solve the issue.
It’s pretty obvious why people are having fewer kids.
Complaining about the lack of happy families/parents in Hollywood is anti-Semitic.
To be honest, if the ladies don’t want kids then I’m staying single. Why would I devote myself to one woman? I’ll keep a bullpen of them. I’ll see them as I see fit and keep upgrading to newer model years.
you do realize they also have to like you correct?
@@WastedBananas Meh... Modern liberal women love being treated like that.
@@fishmonger7020 🤢
@@LoneWulf278the truth is uncomfortable sometimes. If women disconnect, so will men.
@@fishmonger7020 No one will miss you..
Way too many single moms and baby daddies for this to be true
Women are mothers, and...Single mom is not a women without a Male, it is a women without a village of other women. Having a male in your life brings nothing of value, just pain...I say open more sperm clinics.
Just Google it. No, the only place in the world where the populations are booming are in Africa. In fact, America has been below replacement rate since the 1970's. No, the only reason our country doesn't look like Japan or Europe is bc of all the immigrants coming here. New immigrants as a rule have far more kids than the rest of us.
That’s why I’m always so confused about this subject. 😂
I personally didn't want to make an animal that would help any of this happen. If you make more humans the narcissists will require them to help make things worse. The people are not a solution for anything as long as there is a greater than 0% chance they will believe in a religion.
My parents lived with their parents and their grandparents. That was no impediment to having children! It made it easier! It’s the “living in the basement” part that’s different.
30-year-olds now invest in clothes and video games and travel and Plan B. At 30, my parents were adults. Now, at 30 you’re a kid. U buy toys and go to birthday parties. U choose a sex toy at CVS over babies. Why would anyone wanna have kids w u?
?? Never knew there were sex toys at CVS. Millennials and Gen Z'ers don't view having kids as a "rite of passage" as it once was. Life has more has many more paths you can take now and not be socially isolated.
Very well, create a society of desirability toward those who can only afford basement dwelling.
😂😂😂 I've never struggled finding men who want me even though I don't want kids.