Pew: Growing share of childless adults in U.S. don’t expect to ever have children
“Birth rates in the United States dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic amid the twin public health and economic crises, lending evidence to predictions from early on in the outbreak that economic uncertainty might trigger a baby bust.” - Pew
The category was 18-49… Really?
Break this down please! 18-29, 30-39, 40-45, 46-49.
Asking a 48 year old if they plan on having kids is absurd!
Asking a 35 year old is perfectly reasonable.
Look, I’m 48 and I’d say NO! But I have 4 kids already… :-)
Along with what Mark notes, it’s important to ask precisely why young people are less interested in having children. I’m going to hazard a guess and suggest that for many, it’s because their training in life does not give them the resources to support a family, and may not give them the ability to marry a good spouse.
For some, it may be truly environmental or medical reasons, but even for those, I’d dare suggest that we might do well to start covering things like finances, career preparation, and preparation for marriage more earnestly in our churches, along with (!!!!) some emphasis on how the clear implication of 1 Cor. 7 and other passages is that married couples ought to, absent serious extenuating circumstances, open themselves up to the possibility of having children.
To draw a picture of the limits, I’d suggest that “be fruitful and multiply” does not mean “keep having babies even if it kills or maims your wife”, and it doesn’t mean “keep having babies even if you can’t feed them”, but I think it does mean that the ordinary course of life for someone without “the gift that no one wants” (lifelong celibacy) ought to include marriage and being open to children.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
The financial and societal pressure of becoming head of household is a part of that. Even though employment is plentiful, cost of housing an healthcare are so expensive. In this society you have to be intentional to be married. We need policies to encourage that decision from our males.
A society without families is a broken down society that has no future.
Discussion