I cannot find it right now, but our beloved Terry Davis once said something like this: "If you make having children enough of a hassle, people will stop having kids".
No one wants to have kids anymore
141–150 of 457 posts
Re: No one wants to have kids anymore
#142I didn't realize RMS was of the childless drone society. For shame. Hope he gets some work in before meeting the elephants and cosmic seaturtles.
Re: No one wants to have kids anymore
#143This matter is a very clear choice: 1) Have children early at risk of living life without wealth but at minimum risk of health for all parties. 2) Delay. This risks never having children for various biological reasons for the impractically increased chance of increased wealth. As somebody who had children early, went through poverty, and now lives in a large house with a nice job I can't help but look at single peopl…
Whilst I obviously can't speak for the single people you've met, it is possible that not all of them were optimizing for the outcome of living in giant mansions or owning lamborghinis :)
Re: No one wants to have kids anymore
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is extremely location-dependent. In countries where you have universal healthcare, free education and childcare benefits, the financial impact of having a child can be very low.
What are the birth rates in these countries? If you check (Our World In Data Fertility Rates), you’ll see it’s lower than the US, even countries with strong pro natalist policies. The opportunity cost of kids is just too damn high. When fathers in Spain were given more parental leave, they have less kids, for example. The revealed preference is clear. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/children-per-woman-UN https://q…
[deleted]
Re: No one wants to have kids anymore
#145> But deep down I get it. Babies are a huge opportunity cost. Financially speaking, they are like winning the lottery but backwards. You can't even think of having one without cancelling your subscription to a good night's sleep. And if you take into account inflation, economic recession, and the rest of the news cycle's highlight reel, even a one-child family can seem to have one too many mouths to fish Lego pieces…
> I have an incredibly comfortable lifestyle saving for retirement, traveling and buying real estate. The moment I become responsible for another human, that all goes away. You realize that with the deflation that will hit most developed countries, all your savings will evaporate right ? It's a mathematical certainty given the way the economy works (coupled with fertility rates of Immigration might work, but race is…
How would deflation cause savings to evaporate? Wouldn't the opposite happen during deflation and savings would be worth more?
Deflation would screw anyone with debt though.
Re: No one wants to have kids anymore
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
Having a kid is the most fun I’ve ever had. Used to go to raves, done bunch of crazy sexual stuff, as well as most drugs under the sun. There’s nothing close to chasing a toddler in a circle for an hour.
Is this satire? I have a child and the monotonous boredom of dealing with a toddler forces me to suppress the distant memories of freedom to go to raves, fight in foreign militia, get lost in stormy mountains, hitchhike across the plains...
Chasing your toddler for an hour is fun. Chasing your toddler day after day, hour after hour because you have no one else to help you might not be so fun.
There is distinct difference in the fun of raising children in a village where there are tons of other kids with low risk of cars so they can play outside freely, and raising children 24/7 because they cannot be left without supervision and there are few other kids on the street and the adults do not trust each other enough.
Just having functional grandparents or aunts/uncles to take them off your hands once in a while would probably make a big difference.
Re: No one wants to have kids anymore
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
Having a kid is the most fun I’ve ever had. Used to go to raves, done bunch of crazy sexual stuff, as well as most drugs under the sun. There’s nothing close to chasing a toddler in a circle for an hour.
> There’s nothing close to chasing a toddler in a circle for an hour. amen
Chasing twin toddlers in a circle for an hour!
Re: No one wants to have kids anymore
#148> But deep down I get it. Babies are a huge opportunity cost. Financially speaking, they are like winning the lottery but backwards. You can't even think of having one without cancelling your subscription to a good night's sleep. And if you take into account inflation, economic recession, and the rest of the news cycle's highlight reel, even a one-child family can seem to have one too many mouths to fish Lego pieces…
The shift from child free adult to parent is similar in scale to adolescence. Can you remember being a pre-sexual child, all the confusion of teendom, and then sexual maturity. As a sexually mature adult, would you ever elect to revert to being a pre-sexual person?
That's the best analogy I can give to explain how parenthood changes you. Life is messier and more complex afterwards, just like sex, but immeasurably richer. And you develop parent-dar. It's like gaydar. Parenting changes you in a million tiny ways, and us parents can see that in others.
Re: No one wants to have kids anymore
#149> But deep down I get it. Babies are a huge opportunity cost. Financially speaking, they are like winning the lottery but backwards. You can't even think of having one without cancelling your subscription to a good night's sleep. And if you take into account inflation, economic recession, and the rest of the news cycle's highlight reel, even a one-child family can seem to have one too many mouths to fish Lego pieces…
It’s fascinating to contrast this observation with my own as a parent: other parents seem to have much more richer lives post-kids than after, it just becomes much harder to relate with that part of them if you don’t also have kids, too.
Re: No one wants to have kids anymore
#150I know this is going to be a hugely unpopular opinion, but life has no purpose if it was not for offspring. To me not wanting children gives me the same vibes as someone playing a sport or entering a competition and then not giving their absolute everything to win Gold.
would it not be easier to say "life has no purpose for you"?
People are varied and have varying motivations, what's important to one is not necessarily important to another.