Posted on 07/27/2024 6:01:13 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
For years now, we've been analyzing the alarming drop in birth rates in the United States and most of the Western world. This situation is no longer hypothetical in terms of being a potential crisis. The United States has already fallen below the minimum reproductive replacement rate (an average of 2.1 children per adult woman) for multiple years in a row. Somewhat ironically, it's only the massive influx of illegal migrants that is keeping our heads above water at the moment. While there is clearly a valid question to be asked as to whether a population that is increasingly comprised of illegal aliens is worth saving, it's still an issue of great concern. USA Today gathered a group of "experts" in this field who surveyed childless American women and couples to try to figure out why so few people are choosing to bear children today. The answers probably won't be all that shocking to most of you, but they also don't point to any quick or easy solutions.
Lisa and Michael Harris decided early in their relationship that children weren't likely in their future.
The Alexandria, Virginia-based couple married in 2019, when Michael was 60 and Lisa 49. While Lisa made clear during one of their first dates that she "reserved the right to adopt," the couple said there was little discussion of having kids after that. Instead, the Harrises have poured their time and resources into their social life, careers and travel. Both work in cybersecurity, and Lisa said getting her two master's degrees would have been more difficult with children.
"I never felt the need," Lisa said. "I felt a-okay to take care of myself, put food on my own table, get myself out the door in the morning. But the thought of dragging some innocent by standard into that? Not so sure."
People without children offered a variety of reasons for being childless. But despite concerns about rising rates of infertility globally, only a relatively small number of Americans cited that as the problem. Just 13% of younger couples and 15% of older (age 49 and above) couples cited an inability to conceive as the reason. The modern advent of medical technology including IVF and fertility drugs is credited with that statistic being as low as it is.
Among younger adults, the primary reasons given for not having children were as follows:
For all of the talk we hear about climate change, relatively few younger people are offering that as a reason not to bring children into the world. This is either a sign of selfishness or a clue that most of them don't really believe it's that big of a deal. Concerns over the cost of raising children are certainly valid. Raising kids is expensive. Studies show that the average parent will pay nearly a quarter million dollars to raise a child to the age of 18. But the government already offers substantial tax breaks to families with children and numerous child care and welfare programs exist to provide help to those in need. You don't have to be born into the families of Silicon Valley tech barons to be able to start a family.
I think most of us can relate to the concerns of those who are so concerned about the current state of the world that they are avoiding procreation. The world is currently a mess and there is little reason to deny that. Who wants to bring children into a world that appears to be going up in flames? Of course, it's a mess of our own making, particularly these days. It should be fixable if we were united in a desire to do so, yet we seem to be stuck in a doom loop at this point.
That brings us to the most commonly cited reason: a desire to "focus on other things." At least to me, this seems like selfish, short-sighted thinking. The "DINKs," as they are known ("double income, no kids") may have extra money available to go out partying or even save toward retirement, but the day will come when they look around their otherwise empty homes and realize that something fundamentally vital has been missing for all of their adult lives together. And as the specter of old age looms, they will be left wondering who will care for them in their dotage. If nothing else, they are living in denial of what is one of the fundamental, defining characteristics of all living creatures: the drive to reproduce and continue the species. If we have managed to evolve our way past that naturally inherent characteristic, we may as well throw in the towel because the game is essentially over.
“Just one cat, and he is awful.”
Aww, maybe he’s lonely for feline companionship. đż
Better than a SITCOM: single income two children oppressive mortgage
Up here, it’s almost impossible. I guess if you moved to a very remote place, way up north, you’d find some in a starter range. But it depends where you have to work. Many, if not most, people in that younger age range are somewhat stuck with being near the cities if they’re both working.
We bought a house for $300,000.00 in 2010. We sold it ten years later for about $1M. It was not a fancy home, by any means.
My kids are in good, stable marriages and have decent careers, but are childless and intend to stay that way. They spend their non-work time playing video games, playing D&D, playing board games, hanging with friends and taking care of their pets.
The teachers in the family deal with other peoples’ horrid children and want none of their own. That’s part of the puzzle.
“I guess we should have shot illegals, or suspected illegals, on the streets? Escorted them to the border and pushed them over? What? “
What do you think the 2nd amendment is for?
I'd bet they be willing to at least try.
I know homosexuals, of both sexes, who have reproduced. So far none of those children are gay. Are you implying that gay people are born from gay parents?
Were their kids trannies then?
No, theyâre just straight, heterosexual people. Some are grown, some have kids of their own now, and some are young and still in school.
They call them fur babies. They probably donât realize that those little fur babies donât grow up to be heroes most of the time or graduate from school or college or discover cures for cancer. What a letdown. They are just feeding their need to be depended upon which is the first 8 years of a childâs life. Sad. I will never call my dog a fur baby. Heâs a very good dog and he has fur but heâs just a dog.
Interestingly there are a lot of gay people in the education system. I have seen quite a few in my time. They canât have kids but they can tell parents how to raise them.
Hereâs the plan.
Convince white people to not breed.
Tell them itâs for the environment.
Increase inflation.
Use the tax and legal system to make it difficult.
Promote promiscuity, Sodomy, and abortion.
Then import tens of millions of immigrants. Brown skinned. Convince them they are victims and oppressed and the oppressors are those white people.
Put in DAs that drip charges. No bond. Make the big cities unlivable. Have complete control of these cities as with them youâll control the entire state.
Replace the whites with an easy to manipulate dumbed down brown servant class and get them in the government handout system to bind them to government slavery for life. Give them free healthcare and encourage them to breed.
The childless are the key to the Dems taking over here and the liberals taking over in Europe as well.
To counter it?
Take education back from the communists who run it.
Tax incentives and cash incentives for families.
Super incentives for those with advanced degrees.
Or we devolve into Idiocracy.
The average student knows nothing of American history or Shakespeare or the Bible. Ignorant medicated fat apes. Easy to control.
A sixty-year old man is not going to start a family with his forty-nine-year old new wife.
The politicians have ensured that people in America cannot afford children
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRMWhqX7b5o&t=270s
Above is Vance with Megan Kelly regarding his “cat lady” comment. I thought the comment of “so this comes down to a question of is life worth living?”
Looking at the list of why people aren’t having kids - I guess that is what they think.
Ewwww. There are several of these âwomenâ I work with. They are selfish to the max, a new level, I have never seen. They are filled with hate of everything, and have the temperament of a toddler.
They are wrecked with big pharma hormones. Most unpleasant. They own their husband. He never gets to drive.
Only a soy boy would want these relationships.
They have been told the key to happiness is a career or competitive sports.
Sister.. strength fades, motherhood doesnât. Our youngest was over yesterday. Itâs a different mothering when they are grown, but your heart is overjoyed, still
It makes you a better wife too.
Omnipresent porn is a big factor in why people aren't coupling. Its easier than dealing with an actual relationship. And that porn is getting more extreme. More and more women are reporting choking/slapping during sex because regular normal sex isn't stimulating enough.
I wanted seven kids but God gave me none.
Now that I see the speed at which the culture is decaying, I thank God for His wisdom.
I would have been a wreck worrying about the kids and grandkids.
Some of us don't want folks showing up and bothering us. Oh, and get off my lawn!
Because the elites wanted it that way so everything in society discourages having children.
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