Spectator- Why the baby bust matters
Birth rates are tumbling across the world. This isn’t just a tragedy for the growing number of women who have fewer children than they want; below-replacement fertility rates mean that each generation will be smaller than the one before. This could lead to a permanent spiral of decline where the old always outnumber the young.
Spectator- The biggest reason people aren’t having babies? FOMO
…in theory, as society grows richer, people should have more children. Instead, we have fewer, and parenting seems harder than ever.
Why is this? Caplan argues that it is because we have placed many new requirements and expectations on parents that previous generations never had. He contends that parenting has morphed into a suite of ever-changing, high-pressure social obligations – many of which are neurotic, consumerist and status-obsessed, such as saturating your child’s timetable with extracurricular activities to ensure that they are never bored.
Kids don’t need a lot to be kept busy and happy. But it does require good guidance. The feminist pressure for women to have careers instead of kids a big one I haven’t seen mentioned. There are people slandering trad wives and it’s not men. Good mothers are so important to society yet the pressure to drive women away from it is there.
Idiocracy really nailed it.
https://youtu.be/zq6E9BJcs0Y?si=BPLY8eOwTQ_wDxcq
It was a really stupid movie when it came out (still is) but in a few short years it has been proven right so many times it’s scary.
So the whole of the second article by Kristina Murkett can be broken down to “I’m too selfish to make the sacrifices to have children”
The government gets in the way, with it’s multitude of policies including requiring car seats up to almost 10 years of age, promoting smaller living spaces, and bad incentives.
As a result, people feel this often overwhelming pressure to ‘make the most of your twenties’, when fulfilment means fun, freedom, and furthering your career. It is only when the tick of the biological clock gets too loud to ignore, or the FOMO passes because all of your friends are having babies too, that people finally decide to settle down.
My daughter literally announced to me … word-for-word … what is in BOLD. And her two sons, aged 3&5 have already done more, been to Disneyland more times, and been to more foreign countries than I ever did by age 30. They DO everything with and for the kids. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing … but the time, pressure, and complete commitment… has GOT to be exhausting.
And … I hope her boys grow up having to solve their “boring” times. My brother and I pretty much raised ourselves. We had to find our own way, and fill our own time. I believe that time spurred my natural creativity.
Excellent point. The social pressure to constantly entertain children must make them unbearable.
I was in my 40’s the first time I went to Disney, and it added nothing to my life that I needed. Vegas, on the other hand…
As a result, people feel this often overwhelming pressure to ‘make the most of your twenties’, when fulfilment means fun, freedom, and furthering your career. It is only when the tick of the biological clock gets too loud to ignore, or the FOMO passes because all of your friends are having babies too, that people finally decide to settle down.
My daughter literally announced to me … word-for-word … what is in BOLD. And her two sons, aged 3&5 have already done more, been to Disneyland more times, and been to more foreign countries than I ever did by age 30. They DO everything with and for the kids. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing … but the time, pressure, and complete commitment… has GOT to be exhausting.
And … I hope her boys grow up having to solve their “boring” times. My brother and I pretty much raised ourselves. We had to find our own way, and fill our own time. I believe that time spurred my natural creativity … and my ability to be a natural “self-starter”
They’re more interested in gaming than poontang. I can’t figure that out.
In a related story 54% of Women under the age of 30 have been diagnosed with a mental illness. So there’s that. And a large percentage of those gamer-boys aren’t sure why they were born with a pennnis.
I can. They’ve learned the poontang isn’t worth the risk.
I see the concern
However
Why is it I cannot shake this nagging feeling there are those acting in bad faith that as a matter of coincidence are using the the concern to advance their own agenda?
For one, if the government is for something it’s a good indicator it involves an increase in the head count of the bureaucracy and the cost of government (aka the tax you pay).
Yes, the government wants population growth, but only because they see a decline in the number of dependents and tax payers to fund the government.
Then again that might explain why the government programs invented to increase the population are failing.
They were created in bad faith
Cost is also a factor. It’s expensive to raise children & many don’t want to make the sacrifice.
And the biggest and fastest rising cost is government – taxes. Even my friends who have or want kids limit the numbers or timing until they can afford them.
FOMO or just plain fear?
1. Fear of relationships, ruined by 3 years of constant nagging by health workers not to get close to anyone or you’re going to die. Isolation from everyone during formative years.
2. Fear of not having a safe world to live in as climate change is a looming catastrophe.
3. Fear of not having a safe place to live with population replacement growing.
4. Fear of our country not being bright enough to use our resources to do even the basic government services.
5. Just plain fear of the world as being presented by major media and government.
I realize that points 3 and 4 would require some sanity to understand them, so possibly the right leaning mind?
Population decline will be as rapid as the increase was in the last 100 years . Standards of living will decrease as economies shrink. At least real estate will get cheap but few will have money to take advantage of it As in anytime, the smart will be ok. It’s going to be really hard on the dumb.