I don’t think that young adults are the only ones being affected by the problems of today. There are parents who are making plans with respect to some of the issues discussed in this thread: climate change, cost of housing, etc. Not long after our child graduates from college, we anticipate relocating to a different part of the country. One of the top reasons is because although where we live might be okay for my spouse’s and my lifetimes (and that’s still a big might), we don’t think it will be for our kid’s. We (relatives and us) want a place where our children can afford to buy a house and where there are good jobs available. In thinking about careers, our kid will research the likelihood of that job being automated or outsourced to a foreign country. Those are considerations that previous generations did not need to be thinking about.
There are geopolitical considerations as well, but apart from decreasing the optimism for the younger generation, I am unsure of how that will play out in terms of effects on this generation.
My D20 has always wanted kids. I remember playing the game Life with her and for whatever reason, she never landed on a “having a baby” square, and grew increasingly upset as her sister’s little station wagon filled up. She eventually started to cry and I had to assure her that the game was just a game, and not a prophesy, LOL.
That said, I would not be surprised if she chooses not to have any. As she has grown and become more aware of the world’s problems, I think she’s having to reconcile conflicting emotions. Hard to know where she’ll land.
My younger D24 has always been more attuned to the world around her. I would be surprised if she has children.
For a long time, I had the idea of becoming a grandparent high up my list of things I hoped to experience in life. In the last couple of years, I’ve had to temper my expectations on this and just hope my kids end up experiencing happiness and fulfillment in life, regardless of the ways they get there.
We called our son yesterday. He said, “I can’t talk to you today. I’ll call when I can.”
This.
He has told us more than once that he doesn’t plan to have children, and it is definitely due to his dystopian view of the future. He is not as concerned about superpower posturing or nuclear war as he is his certainty that our doom is already sealed by the combined effects of automation disenfranchising an entire population and spawning an unsustainably growing underclass and the escalation of climate change crises that will drive us to resource wars. He knows he is privileged and that he would be able to provide well for a family while he is alive, but his timeline for when he believes these events will degrade the quality of life on the planet for all overlaps his children’s lifetime so, responsibly, no go.
ETA: His current GF does not want children either. Now I’m wondering if that is a criteria he uses to select mates.
My children are the biggest joys of my life, but if I knew 20 years ago what I know now about the world they are inheriting, I likely would have opted to remain childless.
The war in Ukraine is terrifying and depressing. For our family, and particularly my D22 who is a voting rights activist, it underscores her work even more deeply. What more do we need to see to understand how fragile democracy is? The worst thing to do is give up and say these things have no relevance. They do.
My sons are most concerned about climate change and environmental issues. Have talked about not bringing kids into this world, but also talked about having kids. I think it will depend on their partner’s position. Not sure the Ukraine situation will be as concerning to them as the climate crisis. Many of my friend’s 30-something kids and our nieces and nephews are having kids. I am hoping for at least one grandchild.
DD - 30 has two little ones. They might opt for more.
DS is in a relationship where kids are almost a certain step in the near future.
As the product of two WWII impacted parents (immigrants from Germany and Poland) it’s hard to see how the geopolitical situation is the driving force behind the decision to remain childless. If one looks at the right sources and follows the right predictors…we’ve been on the brink of disaster forever- remember we were all going to freeze to death in the 1970’s, choke on smog, be sterilized by our microwaves - or iPhones, or wi-fi devices. etc.
I really wonder if part of the decision to remain childless is simply because Kids.Are.Work! they crimp your vacations, they drag down your finances, they make you miss sleep/work/Friday dates with your SO. And, how many of those who want to remain childless were the absolute center of their parents’ universe…and are now simply not able to imagine a time where they would give up the ‘it’s about me and what I want NOW’ lifestyle.
There’s a whole movie (comedy) that plays on that premise called " Idiocracy." Average intelligence under achiever volunteers for an experiment to make money in the present that turns out to be a test of cryogenic freezing and wakes up centuries later in a world where everyone is, shall we say very dense, because the smart people had less kids until they were effectively bred out of the gene pool.
Also, it seems rather selfish to assume someone else’s kids are going to provide the social, financial and infrastructure support for all those who will be childless in their old age. It is the young’uns who are paying forward.
This is something I don’t understand. In almost every conceivable way, life is vastly better than 200 years ago, 100 years ago or 50 years ago. Even in the last 20 years most of the world has become much better off - look for example at the enormous declines in the number of people living in poverty, and the technological advances in treatment of diseases, development of vaccines, and global communications. The forecasts of the 1960s that the world would be overpopulated and starving, have been shown to be nonsense.
This thread has shown how much pessimism is out there. Why has catastrophism taken hold so deeply on both sides of the political spectrum? Is it just because politicians believe that scaring us about the future is the best way to win votes and power? After all there must be something in our psyche that makes it attractive for many of us to follow leaders who promise that only by following their guidance will we be able to avoid “hell” and get to “heaven”.
Or is it because (for many people, not the forum demographic in top 5% income jobs) it used to need one income to afford to have kids, but now it needs two incomes, which makes it much more difficult (how do two working parents care for the kids?).
I feel like that weighs at least as heavily on one side of the scale as “we need them to pay taxes since we collect social security” might weigh on the other.
I don’t think the anxiety is baseless. We are on an unsustainable path as evidenced by the science. Timeline may be up for debate but it can’t go in like this forever…
A lot of events we’re dealing with is a lot like the hyperinflation and geopolitical events of the 70s and 80s. I’m pretty sure the baby boomers said the same thing back then. My parents had me, so something must’ve gone right It doesn’t go away. There’s always a calamity, or an invasion, or a recession, or inflation. An alien invasion is the only thing we haven’t had yet, so I’m sure that’s coming soon.
My kids are, overall, pretty optimistic about the future. The world has gotten through pretty bad problems before and we’ll get through the current struggles, too.
It doesn’t go away. There’s always a calamity, or an invasion, or a recession, or inflation. An alien invasion is the only thing we haven’t had yet, so I’m sure that’s coming soon.