Ewww, Weee there was a good article in the Wall Street Journal called, "America's Baby Bust." What? You read WSJ? No, not on the regular, but I look for articles on this country you may know of that is so near and dear to my heart. I usually spend a good amount of time looking words up...can't figure out what the sentence really means if I am skipping words.
We, as in Americans, are not having babies anymore. Our fertility rate is drastically falling. This is not good. For years we have heard, "There are too many people! If the population keeps growing, we will run out of food, blah blah blah blah," Which is not so much true. Actually with us not having babies we are creating problems for our country. 97% of us live in a country where the fertility rates are falling. One country is buying more adult diapers than they are baby diapers this year...Yikes. Interesting my friends, very interesting.
The whole time I am reading this, I want the writer to get to the point. Okay, so why are we not having babies? Money? Expectations? Infertility? I am under the impression that there are several reasons, but a big reason was disturbing...Happiness.
People who have less children are happier. What? Yes, that is what research concludes. We have changed the way we live in the last 40 years. People's happiness depends what? Things and independence I guess? What a flawed world we live in.
College is a huge reason why we don't have babies anymore. The cost has gone up 1,000% since 1960. Yikes. We need to work on this one. Daycare is out of control expensive. The article came up with all sorts of different ways we would hike the baby making like tax breaks.
What do you think? Do you think more people would have children if they had more money? Or do we prefer every child to have their own rooms and two children is the norm? I do not know the answer to this one. Let's discuss, shall we?
I am writing for from a Switzerland perspective as I live here and am currently pregnant. The average number of kids here is 1. Interesting as it is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. It is not that the Swiss don't have money it is that how dare a child take away from their comfort. Everyone needs 2 Range Rovers, a 5 bedroom house and enough funds to travel at least twice a month. They have children to fit into the societal norm. Most Swiss mothers go back to work as soon as possible so the savings account of 100,000 doesn't start depleting. There are no risks, no sacrifices, no out of the comfort zones for these people. It saddens me that happiness is the reason now NOT to have a child. How disgusting. God states that he bares us children so that we can be truly happy. As sad as it is this article is not shocking in the least. This is now where America is. How can I live my life in a benefit to myself? Not helping others, not having children and bringing them up Christian. I have a friend here who is pregnant with her second child. She has mostly got nothing but NEGATIVE comments. Several awful comments from church members. She is someone who wants 7 children and she has a lack of support for 2!!!!!! How scary? God is trembling thinking of how are are acting as a society? Now this has nothing to do with people that cannot afford another. I am in no way talking to them. I would actually think it is stupid to bring in another human if they cannot afford it. I am strictly talking to the people of the world that do NOT live pay check to paycheck and could afford to adopt 2-3 kids. We now live in a very selfish society. It is what will help me, not what could I gain out of truly suffering. There is not greater joy than the joy you get from having a child. When my heart is the fullest is when I am surrounded by family, kids laughing, messes being made, shouting from everywhere etc. I don't experience this from a new car or a new house. These things don't talk. They don't love. They don't show compassion. What I know about our new world is that we truly don't know what love is.
ReplyDeleteI meant to say on the last line we truly don't know what HAPPINESS IS.
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