not gonna lie, getting to have a mid-day 'nap' with my GF while we WFH together is pretty great, I can see how it can lead to this
[deleted]
Remote work may have fueled a baby boom among U.S. women
191–200 of 432 posts
Re: Remote work may have fueled a baby boom among U.S. women
#192We have had more parental leaves this year on my team then we have had in the last 5 years combined. Anecdotally confirmed
I had a lot of friends that got their first child during lockdown. Exactly 0 that already had a kid created another.
Take that for what you want.
Re: Remote work may have fueled a baby boom among U.S. women
#193Earlier quoted context omitted.
> women have stepped up for their families often to the detriment of their own careers Forcing 2 household incomes was/is awful for a healthy society. Women are the only humans that can produce children and they have to do it during a relatively short time window - especially if we want to reproduce at replacement level. Raising children should be regarded as one of the most important things a woman can do because th…
> Raising children should be regarded as one of the most important things a woman can do because they’re the only ones that can do it. This seems pretty reductionist to me. Men can absolutely raise children. Husbands in heterosexual couples should absolutely be raising their children and not leaving the entire task of raising them to their wives. Gay men can also raise children. I don't think you meant to be disrespe…
Men can raise children, but cannot get pregnant or breast feed. Going through that cycle with potentially multiple children is a big time investment that cannot be delegated to men.
Beyond that, yes, men are perfectly capable of performing child rearing tasks. Note, of course, this does not negate the argument against a two income family. Having a society where one income can support a family means fathers can devote themselves to raising their children, and so can mothers. Or alternate roles. Or one full time career and one part time career.
Re: Remote work may have fueled a baby boom among U.S. women
#194Elon is worried about a population crisis, yet he's anti-remote work..
Re: Remote work may have fueled a baby boom among U.S. women
#195Earlier quoted context omitted.
>I love learning, I'm highly qualified in the academic space and enjoy picking at problems. I've written papers, patents, well paid, etc. Highly successful by most metrics. Right - so imagine that you didn't have that opportunity to do that academic work because you have an elderly parent at home who needs care. You've got two little kids at home who aren't yet school age and thus needs care. You wouldn't be content…
Women can get pregnant and breast feed. Men can't. That is the primary reason women end up making more tradeoffs in terms of career vs. family. Sure, there are some cultural and political things that can be changed. But there are some fundamental biological realities that cannot. > Right - so imagine that you didn't have that opportunity to do that academic work because you have an elderly parent at home who needs ca…
>Women can get pregnant and breast feed. Men can't.
So that's 9 months + some amount of months breast feeding. What's the excuse after that? Couples of all types need to find the balance that is right for them, but the comments in this thread trying to use biology as an excuse to make 18 years (or life, as I see it) worth of child-rearing strictly a "women's issue" are living in the past.
>Many people will choose the elderly parents and little kids over academic work and promotions, given they have enough money to support themselves. The academic work and promotions are just a means to an end, which for many is the ability to support and raise a family.
Must be nice. Meanwhile, the people in my area have shitty low paying jobs and can't afford housing, and are still trying to support their kids and elderly parents, all while having eff-all in the way of access to quality, affordable health care.
Re: Remote work may have fueled a baby boom among U.S. women
#196Earlier quoted context omitted.
>"why you want a career?" Financial independence. Anyone who thinks SAH parents can free themselves of this worry is naive. You never get the time back, you never get the experience back, you never get the training or the raises or the bonuses. You never get the retirement savings. If you are unfortunate enough to live in the US you are entirely dependent on your spouse for healthcare. It's an unfathomably vulnerable…
> A SAH spouse is not an equal partner with a 50% contribution. More of an oldest child with extra responsibilities and a higher allowance. This is a really depressing way of looking at things.
Spend any amount of time among ( let's be honest ) men and you see this attitude over and over again. They "let" their spouse stay at home. The SAH spouse spends all "their" money. The working spouse "supports" the family. There's a constant stream of posts on reddit about how how a working spouse should be able to come home and play video games for hours - they work so hard and deserve a break. Does the SAH spouse work hard deserve a break? What a ridiculous idea. See how often someone complains that they come home and the house is a mess and the laundry isn't done and dinner isn't ready. This isn't the attitude of an equal partner, this is the attitude of a boss. Does the SAH spouse get to review the working spouse's productivity each day? Give them access to the JIRA board and let them start asking why it's taking a week to support a minor version change.
Re: Remote work may have fueled a baby boom among U.S. women
#197Earlier quoted context omitted.
> women have stepped up for their families often to the detriment of their own careers Forcing 2 household incomes was/is awful for a healthy society. Women are the only humans that can produce children and they have to do it during a relatively short time window - especially if we want to reproduce at replacement level. Raising children should be regarded as one of the most important things a woman can do because th…
It's been amazing to me that developed countries have bemoaned birth rates... and then done nothing effective about it. You know what says "This country values parents who choose to have children?" Actual replacement of lost income potential and career progression. Yes, in the US there are tax credits, SNAP, etc. None of these even come close to replacing the life income changes. If we were serious about it, we'd hav…
> It's been amazing to me that developed countries have bemoaned birth rates... and then done nothing effective about it.
I always thought a low birth rate was a net-good: Something all countries are striving for. Like when your country drops below 2 births per woman, it has "made it" into the ranks of Developed Countries. Lower birth rate means fewer bodies to feed and a smaller environmental footprint. Sure, I guess it also means you have less "cannon fodder" both economically and militarily, but net net low birth rate countries are better off than high birth rate countries.
Re: Remote work may have fueled a baby boom among U.S. women
#198Earlier quoted context omitted.
> women have stepped up for their families often to the detriment of their own careers Forcing 2 household incomes was/is awful for a healthy society. Women are the only humans that can produce children and they have to do it during a relatively short time window - especially if we want to reproduce at replacement level. Raising children should be regarded as one of the most important things a woman can do because th…
It's been amazing to me that developed countries have bemoaned birth rates... and then done nothing effective about it. You know what says "This country values parents who choose to have children?" Actual replacement of lost income potential and career progression. Yes, in the US there are tax credits, SNAP, etc. None of these even come close to replacing the life income changes. If we were serious about it, we'd hav…
I believe France has implemented some policies that have been somewhat effective at increasing their birth rates, compared to other European countries?
Re: Remote work may have fueled a baby boom among U.S. women
#199Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, the questions have to be carefully designed to avoid questioner's bias, and to get at the root of what you're trying to determine. There's a vast range from "we cannot have children at all" to "we are intentionally doing every single thing possible to conceive" and many people end up in the "eh if it happens it happens" middle somewhere.
Yes, but my point was that the set of 25 year old couples who ended up working from home and having sex more often because of it probably will not end up with a baby because they will not have forgone birth control. Or a couple who has already had their desired amount of kids would not end up with more kids even though they are having more sex due to them using birth control. Whereas a 30 to 35 year old couple who wa…
Every birth control method has a failure rate, even for perfect use, never mind for average use.
If all else stays the same but the amount of sex goes up, the number of babies will also go up.
Are the 25yo couples who are having more sex making other changes to decrease likelihood of pregnancy? Realistically? Probably not. They probably use their birth control the same way they always have, since it previously worked fine for the amount of sex they were having before. They don't necessarily think, "Oh, I'm increasing the odds that I'll get hit by the failure rate," especially if the way they've been using it has been "successful" for years.
Re: Remote work may have fueled a baby boom among U.S. women
#200Earlier quoted context omitted.
Except in (unnecessarily-) boarded industries and ones with predatory non-competes. Pedantic pique, but both annoy the hell out of me.
Don't sign predatory non-competes. If one is executive material, negotiation is a necessary skill :-) I was helping a friend buy a car the other day. The salesman kept coming back with a "final" offer and "we can't go lower than that", etc., etc. But I advised my friend to hold the line, and he did till the offer got into his price range.
I meant less so on the business owner side, although it is a lesser concern there too, and more so on employee side.
Hard to hire experienced employees if no one in your industry (i.e. nail care) can change employers.
And then there's the latest 'you owe the (arbitrary) cost of your training if you leave before X' restrictions.
Also, car buying is the worst. The only working formula I've found is to deal with internet sales, confirm the number, show up, and say you're walking if they add anything but taxes to it.