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Japan Offers Free Daycare to Boost Tokyo's Falling Birth Rate

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101–110 of 112 posts

Re: Japan Offers Free Daycare to Boost Tokyo's Falling Birth Rate

#101
post #46

Too late, I think. Once not having kids becomes "normal" and socially acceptable, it'll take a lot of heavy handed propaganda and much stronger incentives to convince people otherwise. Raising kids is a civilizationally necessary hard work that needs to be "normalized" and "expected" for people to actually do it.

People in my country dont even want to pay taxes for the roads we drive on. The same people are trying to force others to have kids with no incentives and lackluster futures. It’s just a bad deal.

You do understand that those who do not procreate inevitably die out in the long run, right? That does not bode well for the taxable base either, and therefore for the roads.

Re: Japan Offers Free Daycare to Boost Tokyo's Falling Birth Rate

#102
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People in my country dont even want to pay taxes for the roads we drive on. The same people are trying to force others to have kids with no incentives and lackluster futures. It’s just a bad deal.

You do understand that those who do not procreate inevitably die out in the long run, right? That does not bode well for the taxable base either, and therefore for the roads.

then you should pay prople for their labor. Seriously, would you do this kind of all consuming labor for free?

Our society has lived off the free labor of women and has gotten lazy and thankless.

Re: Japan Offers Free Daycare to Boost Tokyo's Falling Birth Rate

#103
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do understand that those who do not procreate inevitably die out in the long run, right? That does not bode well for the taxable base either, and therefore for the roads.

then you should pay prople for their labor. Seriously, would you do this kind of all consuming labor for free? Our society has lived off the free labor of women and has gotten lazy and thankless.

We're talking about _Japan_. They, presumably, already "pay people for their labor" and collect enough taxes for infrastructure.

Re: Japan Offers Free Daycare to Boost Tokyo's Falling Birth Rate

#104
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

then you should pay prople for their labor. Seriously, would you do this kind of all consuming labor for free? Our society has lived off the free labor of women and has gotten lazy and thankless.

We're talking about _Japan_. They, presumably, already "pay people for their labor" and collect enough taxes for infrastructure.

show me how they are paying women?

Re: Japan Offers Free Daycare to Boost Tokyo's Falling Birth Rate

#106

Parenting threads always raise my hackles, and I’ve been up since 1:30 this morning with a sick kid so can’t not take this bait. In my opinion the issue is social, and it’s this: kids are essential to society but, these days, non-parents have little to no experience with kids. They’re entirely unfamiliar with even basic child physiology and psychology or the requirements of adequate childcare at different ages. Two t…

They aren't super common (like, each town has basically one), but here in Japan there are pediatric clinics with "sick daycare" where you can drop your sick child off in the morning to be looked after all day while you go to work. And they are (basically) free.

Re: Japan Offers Free Daycare to Boost Tokyo's Falling Birth Rate

#107
post #57

Radical idea: treat mothers as professionals. Train them, certify them, give them resources and support networks, then pay them to raise kids until school age or even beyond. It is a full time job, and should be treated as such if governments want to incentivise childbirth.

Doesn't part of the reason for the decline have to do with how people are waiting to get married and prioritizing schooling and career? Free daycare allows you to pursue a path that sets you up for the years after the kids go off to school. But I see no reason people who have kids who don't use daycare shouldn't get that credit too.

Re: Japan Offers Free Daycare to Boost Tokyo's Falling Birth Rate

#108
post #5

Falling birth rates is a problem in most wealthy industrialized societies. Being up a 4am to greet my wife who's been up since 1am with a screaming child. I'm not sure exactly what kind of benefits could convince us that he needs siblings :) Just saying, that while I certainly applaud the effort. I don't see any easy ways to fix the issue: kids are hard work, there are many other things you could do with your life.

This has been parenting for the last several thousand years. I say this not to be flippant or sarcastic but rather to ask how our ancestors seemed fine with the above but we seem less so? (To be fair, I have 3 kids and totally get why your scenario might lower the odds. I'll say that even with the 1am wakeups, the "I love you!" from a toddler is one of the best feelings ever.)

> This has been parenting for the last several thousand years

Maybe, we are treated better than our ancestors. Most certainly this was the case for women.

(To be clear, I'm not saying that kids isn't worth it, just that it's hard for a government service to move the needle)

Re: Japan Offers Free Daycare to Boost Tokyo's Falling Birth Rate

#109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's just a form of subsidy, $500-$2000/month worth depending on where paid for by the people who don't have kids not very different than just giving out cash or tax credits

Just like pensions, that are from the people that have invested in kids to those that didn’t.

maybe? how is this relevant. My point is this is not very different from what other countries are doing with cash subsidies or tax credits, perhaps with a PR angle of a human touch of a "free daycare". Worth trying of course, who knows what ends up working, so far nothing has worked. But looks pretty bleak. South Korea, one of the richest nations, no excuse for lack of money, plummeting to 0.72 in peaceful, non-Black-Death times. Something is majorly off.

Re: Japan Offers Free Daycare to Boost Tokyo's Falling Birth Rate

#110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Idk, I love children and being able to comfort kids back to sleep makes me more happy and not annoyed, I’d choose children over a better vacation or a car, I’m not sure why our generation in most countries stopped caring about children. Until this, people would dedicate their lives to their kids, children were the most important thing in people’s lives, everything from friends, to outings, to day to day life, would r…

> Until this, people would dedicate their lives to their kids, children were the most important thing in people’s lives, everything from friends, to outings, to day to day life, would revolve around the child’s best interests and wants. Is this actually true? I don’t really believe it. Sending your kids to work in the sweatshops doesn’t seem like “best interests and wants.” I think people were just surviving in their…

> Is this actually true?

It is true in Asian countries and most pre-industrialised nations

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