It is troubling, for the future of society, when you consider that some of the most accomplished and brightest, “yuppie” types, if I can use that term, just do not want to have children. And some of these same people lavish lots of attention on their pets.
I think that modern thinking, the whole sexual revolution idea, and modern contraceptives, have created a culture in which many people just will never have children. And there are implications for the whole society.
I think openness in communication was the big change. It used to be that if you didn’t want to have kids that was your dark little secret and you went and had kids because that’s how things worked. My MIL is now very open about the fact that she never wanted kids, but she had them anyway (and did a pretty bad job of it in 2 out of 3 tries and her grandkid) because that was what you did. By the time I came of age enough people were open about the fact that they didn’t want kids that you could actually use it as a spouse selection criteria, which I did.
I think in the long run it has very good implications for society. Birthrate will eventually level out, and only people who actually want kids, and will put the effort necessary into raising them properly, will have kids. Some of the biggest messes I’ve ever known were society obligation children, if we stop having them a lot of problems go away. And when we get a generation that’s almost entirely born from desire and raised that way a higher percentage of them will want kids.