The No-Baby Boom

Submitted by Matt on Sat, 2011-07-02 12:36

Article here. No mention of other factors, such as fear of divorce. Excerpt:

'Considering the state of the economy, it should come as no surprise that the ranks of the child-free are exploding. The Department of Agriculture reports that the average cost for a middle-income two-parent family to support a kid through high school is $286,050 (it's nearly half a million dollars for couples in higher tax brackets). ... Unless you're among the less than 2 percent of Americans who farm for a living and might conceivably rely on offspring for free labor, children have gone from being an economic asset to an economic liability.

But for the child-free, the benefits go beyond dollars and cents. There's less guilt, less worry, less responsibility, more sleep, more free time, more disposable income, no awkward conversations about Teen Mom, no forced relationships with people just because your kids like their kids, no chauffeuring other people's kids in your minivan to soccer games you find less appealing than televised chess.
...
This isn't just an American trend. Global birth rates dropped from six children per woman to 2.9 between 1972 and 2008 as people migrated to cities. One Italian mayor has resorted to bribery to restock his town, offering couples $15,000 for each child they produce. Germany's baby shortage results in an annual population loss of 100,000. And the sheep-to-human ratio in New Zealand, which currently stands at 10 to 1, seems sure to increase, since a staggering 18 percent of adult men there have elected to get vasectomies.'

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Comments

In my opinion this is more of the "me me me" mentality of both men and women, and perhaps a result of women being told they can "have it all". Some of the women wait too long and then figure out it is difficult to get pregnant after 35 and accept their choices.

Generally I have no problem with people choosing not to have children. I even think it is a good respectable choice for couples that know it is not for them. However, our species would not survive if everyone chose this option and I have concern as why men and women are not feeling the need for "genetic eternal life" which biology is supposed to have embedded in them.

I have seen this $286,050 cost of raising a kid to 18 many times. I don't know who came up with it and what all it includes, but my kids are young and we passed the $286.050 mark a long time ago. Perhaps it does not include mortgage payments because parents get that money back when they sell their house after kids move out. But even if someone rents a 4 bedroom house for $2000 a month, I would figure two kids are costing 50% (or $1000/month) of that expense. Then figure in 2 kids use up half of utilities, car expenses, etc. (about 95% of my driving is family related and driving my kids to their stuff).

Anyway, kids are expensive and time consuming. I guess some couples don't want to make any sacrifices.

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Submitted by Kris on Sat, 2011-07-02 19:00

Your comment about the natural desire to seek 'genetic eternal life' caught my eye. I think this is present in most people, some perhaps being exceptions for whatever reason(s). But that it is there as a disposition in humanity, there is no denying. Perhaps though there is also a natural "break-loop" feedback mechanism that stops this from being an overwhelming factor. Once we start to notice that there are a good solid number of us all around and that we are all seemingly doing fine, we stop with the desire to reproduce nearly as aggressively as, say, if we were living in very bad conditions. Psychologists attributed the boom in kids after WWII in the US to the psychology of the men who survived the war: bad times, lots of death, best response was to make kids to replace the dead people. Of course, the women who became the mothers of these kids here at home had a similar thing happening with regard to their husbands or sweethearts who were overseas, along the lines of "He survived, hooray, we need to have babies fast!"

The human psychology at work is undeniable. Without these stressed situations and without any obvious need to fill up the space around us with kids, possibly the Quick-let's-reproduce urge gets short-circuited in favor of a Gee-there's-plenty-already attitude that keeps people from wanting kids quite so much. Makes sense to me.

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Submitted by Matt on Sat, 2011-07-02 19:16