Posted on 10/04/2006 9:39:29 AM PDT by qam1
The fears that deter young couples from starting a family have been revealed in a report published today. The study, carried out by the Future Foundation into the reasons why Britain's birth rate has tumbled since the end of the 1960s baby boom, found financial pressures were the greatest inhibition.
It found that two-thirds of a sample of childless adults under the age of 45 said they were delaying having children until they could save enough to afford them. Half were postponing having a family until they could move to a bigger home.
The foundation said this fear was well founded because the average cost of raising a child to the age of 18 was now more than £122,000. "To a generation of potential parents inundated with debt, financial pressures will continue to be an inhibitor," it said.
However, other fears could be considered to be more self-centred. Around 50% of childless men and 40% of childless women said they were not ready to make the lifestyle changes necessary to accommodate the needs of young children.
Twenty and thirtysomethings were participating in twice as many leisure activities as 25 years ago and appeared reluctant to give them up.
The researchers found that 61% of new fathers and 56% of new mothers became less satisfied with their leisure time in the year after their first child was born.
.....
But only 7% did not want to have children because they thought they would not be a good parent.
"The findings reveal that having children is now thought of as a lifestyle choice rather than an inevitable life stage," the foundation said.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
No, REALLY?!?
Maybe they'll enjoy their leisure time more when Britain has a Moslem majority?
doesn't seem to stop the followers of Mohammad (Fleas be upon him).
No, it doesn't. Finances and leisure time haven't stopped me from having children, either.
less satisfied with their leisure time in the year after their first child was born
WHAT LEISURE TIME?
No - it is more like the HUGE tax burden that prevents people from having children.
Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations (i.e. The Baby Boomers) are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.
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Finances? Wow, and here I stopped having children because I ran out of bedrooms. What was I thinking.
Unless you are man, in which case you are only permitted the financial liabilities of parenthood while the possessory interest of the government and the mother in the child obliterates any claim you have upon them.
If we accept this rational-choice model (and I think it is very useful for explaining fertility patterns in most societies), people clearly are either unaware of or reject that children can be one of the most profound joys in life for most people. Those who are blessed enough to be parents know this, and I wonder why those who choose childlessness for these kinds of reasons are not aware of it.
On that note, I shall go home and enjoy watching "Elmo Goes to the Potty" once again.
I guess that's why they're less satisfied! I'm about to go snuggle my baby for "leisure time" :-).
In my own experience, it's not so much lack of cash as lack of affordable health insurance.
You might find this thread interesting, elimination-wise:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1713444/posts
"...the average cost of raising a child to the age of 18 was now more than £122,000."
Which equates to just under $230K USD. $230K/18=$12,777.777 per year. For some reason I'm not sure I am buying that cost.
I hear about the gap between the haves and the have-nots. But the have-nots often have larger families (whether or not they can afford to raise them).
Oh, good. I'm not the only one that has to endure that.
The worse for me was when, on my children's insistence, we went to see The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in the theaters. My wife and I sat on opposite sides of the children for containment reasons so we couldn't talk during the movie. At the end of the movie I asked her what she thought of it and she told me, "I couldn't figure out how to slit my wrists on the theater chair."
Depends on what you consider a satisfying way to spend your time. I'd only be interested in snuggling a baby of mine if he were at least forty years old and about six feet tall. ;)
Now I know the inevitable, "There's never a 'right' time, you can always find more money," etc... We are waiting because we want to live on one income. To do that, we have to get our expenses down to a reasonable level and/or get our one income up to a reasonable level. I suspect there are plenty of couples doing a similar thing.
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