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What caused the 'baby boom'? What would it take to have another?

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Re: What caused the 'baby boom'? What would it take to have another?

#781

Post by dyauspitr »

itake wrote: post #161

My $0.02 is being a mom sucks. In modern relationships, men just want to work and come home to a cooked meal and clean house, but their wives are working just as many hours the men are. Having kids means tension in relationship, unpaid labor by the woman, and stress parenting kids. Even if the husband steps up, he still can't breast feed for 3 hours per day. Pregnancy is really terrible on the woman's body. Post-part…

Between daycare, transportation to events, eating out and paying for cleaners because you don’t have time to do them yourselves all add up. Unless you’re making more than $60k it doesn’t make financial sense for the mom to work.

Re: What caused the 'baby boom'? What would it take to have another?

#782

Post by supertrope »

odyssey7 wrote: post #522

What if we just made people financially comfortable and secure again? The axis is "feed and breed" vs "fight or flight." And stop making people move away from their families for a shot at financial security. Having family around is a key expedient to raising kids, just as it has been since the dawn of time. Stop making people leave their families for return-to-office nonsense. Millennials have been through repeated p…

"Don't have kids you can't afford." Now we're shocked when people makes less babies.

Re: What caused the 'baby boom'? What would it take to have another?

#783

Post by jdlyga »

Back in the 90s, there was fear about a population bomb. 10 billion people by 2010, mass starvation, etc. We've successfully defused the population bomb since, and now the conversation has flipped. In most developed countries, there's declining birthrates and new concerns over who will support the future economy. The problem now is that these countries do very little to support new families and children. Housing is expensive, childcare costs are crushing, expectations on parents is higher than ever, and there's less community support than ever before. So it's really no wonder why people are choosing to have smaller families or no kids at all.

Re: What caused the 'baby boom'? What would it take to have another?

#784

Post by spwa4 »

ceejayoz wrote: post #740
spwa4 wrote: post #598

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? The metaphorical "You" won't pay for children, won't pay for doctors, won't pay for research ... are you going to pay for robotics? And by that "pay for" I mean two things. First: having one human shared by about 12 elderly costs 2700 euro per month where I am (including room and -basic- food, apparently better food is 300 extra per month, and I think you really want that. Oh and that includes management. Really…

I think the capital class will attempt all the things you suggest as this shift occurs, yes. I think that system inevitably collapses, though. At a certain point, you get a French Revolution style mess when you push the working classes to the breaking point.

The system IS collapsing, because people refuse to do basic math and prevent it. And if the "capital class" succeeds in doing this, it MAY prevent a full collapse and, frankly, those members of the capital class deserve a nice wad of cash for it, as far as I'm concerned.

Re: What caused the 'baby boom'? What would it take to have another?

#785

Post by supertrope »

louwrentius wrote: post #184
PakistaniDenzel wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No - being a mom and having to work full time sucks. Being a full time mom probably isn't that bad.

Some Women who are full time mothers report feeling isolated. Many chose to keep their job even if all the money goes to day care.

There's also the benefits of career progression, avoiding a long resume gap, saving for retirement, not being financially dependent on your spouse, and increased financial resilience for the family.

Re: What caused the 'baby boom'? What would it take to have another?

#786

Post by garciasn »

jdlyga wrote: post #783

Back in the 90s, there was fear about a population bomb. 10 billion people by 2010, mass starvation, etc. We've successfully defused the population bomb since, and now the conversation has flipped. In most developed countries, there's declining birthrates and new concerns over who will support the future economy. The problem now is that these countries do very little to support new families and children. Housing is e…

No; we just have birth control that works. The rest of these are all parts of the puzzle that help people not desire having offspring, but previously there simply wasn't a 99% fool-proof method to do so aside from abstinence or hysterectomy. So; regardless of economic factors, people had kids and dealt with those outcomes.

Re: What caused the 'baby boom'? What would it take to have another?

#787

Post by twelvefeet »

socceroos wrote: post #587
rdm_blackhole wrote: post #560

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I find the repeated comments of how much parenting 'sucks' and how much childbearing 'sucks' to be distasteful. Shouldn't people who think that parenting is not a glamorous job be allowed to express their thoughts on this subject? > It has been the single most incredible experience I've had (5 times over). So other people's feelings and experiences are according to you distasteful but yours should be accepted as so…

I'm certainly not denying them their right to express their thoughts; I'm not sure where you've got that notion from. Are you suggesting I should not have the right to express my thoughts about their thoughts?

We all have the right to express our thoughts. We also have the right to keep some thoughts to ourselves. Maybe not every opinion needs to be shared, hm?

Re: What caused the 'baby boom'? What would it take to have another?

#788

Post by holy_eggplants »

sebmellen wrote: post #764
tenebrisalietum wrote: post #758

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have a child, but don't have a house, you'll probably stay with your parents. They probably would rather you have your own house so they can have privacy and such. A lot of the "multiple generations of families under one roof" type thinking are only practical if you have a large property, which was more common and much cheaper before the industrial revolution, tract housing, high rise apartments, and $2000/mo.…

I had my first child at 24 on a shoestring budget in a 700 sq. ft. apartment and it has been completely manageable. Children are way less expensive than you might think (definitely cheaper than an adult) and if you’re creative you can find good quality, full-time daycare or childcare for $10-15k/yr. Does this add extra work? Oh yes, absolutely it does. But while having children means you sacrifice certain things, the…

I think one problem is that it's difficult to share with non-parents that the sacrifice is worth it. It's easier to understand the pain of losing opportunities, losing freedom, losing hobbies, losing sleep, or downsizing living space.

How do you explain that you miss your newborn so much, that when the baby is asleep all you do is look through pictures of him/her? i almost cried the first time my toddler ran up to me and gave me a hug. i cried when i picked him up after the first day of daycare and he said "i missed you" - i didn't even know he knew that phrase!

My (immigrant) parents never explained to me how awesome it is to be a parent. Also they are a 100 times more affectionate as grandparents than as parents. I hope to teach my son that being a parent is the best luckiest blessed thing ever.

Re: What caused the 'baby boom'? What would it take to have another?

#789

Post by aoeusnth1 »

jdlyga wrote: post #783

Back in the 90s, there was fear about a population bomb. 10 billion people by 2010, mass starvation, etc. We've successfully defused the population bomb since, and now the conversation has flipped. In most developed countries, there's declining birthrates and new concerns over who will support the future economy. The problem now is that these countries do very little to support new families and children. Housing is e…

Yet, richer people have fewer children. It isn't clear that reducing costs (making people richer) would actually increase birth rates

Re: What caused the 'baby boom'? What would it take to have another?

#790

Post by eli_gottlieb »

crtified wrote: post #178

My anecdotal experience, which illustrates how changing societal norms may be contributing. Around 1960, my grandmother scandalously fell pregnant with my mother in her late teens. The child was adopted out - well, not out - in. To her own grandmother, to be raised as a "younger sister" to her own mother. Around 1980, my mother scandalously fell pregnant with me, in her late teens. Despite family disapproval, the chi…

> In the late 90's, my late-teens girlfriend scandalously fell pregnant.

And whose fault was that, eh?

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