I wonder what world my grandchild will be born into. I hope that the world and political leaders become smarter and act courageously to make some hard changes. Climate change is huge and can’t continue to be ignored. Living in the west drought is a very real threat.
I have one pregnant daughter who is mid 30’s. She has many educated friends and former classmates who are pregnant or had a child in the last year. Likely most of them will just have one. I think cost of living is a major factor. Another daughter 28 has been adamant about no kids into this world or she would adopt for many years. In the last few months she is now reconsidering and is contemplating having children.
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Both of my kids seem fine about the future. They haven’t mentioned kids, but not many teen/20s boys think about that much I would guess. I don’t ask about the kids plans either. I figure it’s none of my business.
Darwin talked about “vicious members of society, tend to increase at a quicker rate than the provident and generally virtuous members” 160 years ago, but contemplated the counteracting forces.
It seems this is always discussed, but never happens. In the current context, maybe the next generation will have less irrational anxiety.
I went to college during the height of MAD (mutually assured destruction for the younger folk) and was near an Air National Guard unit that scrambled in the middle of the night. As a political science major we talked about this all the time, and I had many nights of being scared that we were going to nuke each other into oblivion. My finance major boyfriend…he never gave this a thought and instead focused on our great economy.
I think every generation has its worries. It’s more about how much those issues get talked about or have a direct impact on us. I think today’s generation is much more politically aware than my generation.
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I think we can only judge/understand so much because we are not them - we are not in our 20’s or 30’s now looking at the world around us. This is nothing new! I don’t think I was the exception when I was a young adult to NOT necessarily want the kind of life my parents had or to believe their beliefs!
Maybe some of the logic with children is “def not when I’m 25”(like our generation might have) but “check back with me when I’m 35”. I think trends are definitely for delaying children.
After the past few years of political strife, COVID and the current very intense unrest in the world, natural disasters - gosh, I would be more upset with my kids if they DIDN’T consider the world around them before having kids!
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When I was in college the economy was pretty bad. Interest rates were high and job prospects were poor. It affected my choice of career; I chose a profession that then promised a good salary and job security.
My parents were children of the Great Depression. Lost farms, banks failed, savings lost. Their scrimping and saving due to that mindset lasted their entire lives. My dad also saw action in WWII. But that experience did not seem as transformative to his life as the Depression. Economic insecurity is frightening.
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I’m sorry, but the threats we are seeing to democracy in this country and throughout the world is not just the grievance of the week for the younger generation. It impacts all of us.
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Whoa, I don’t think I inferred that! I was only looking to consider their point of view. Just like I would hope anyone my age or ANY AGE would look at the world around them and consider life choices - rather than just do what’s expected or do what others before us did.
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I’m going to be the contrarian here and say that in most ways there has never been a better time to be alive on this earth. People are living longer and healthier lives not only here in the US but worldwide. As a world we are wealthier than we’ve ever been. We have access to information, travel, and cultures that were only experienced by a few of the very rich a century or two ago. People have lived with wars, famine, global catastrophes, pollution etc. and improved the world as they live through it. It was their children who were the beneficiaries. I find it interesting that it’s the wealthiest young people that often are the ones who don’t want to have children. It’s their children that should be counted on to continue to make this world a better place. Some day if they’ve done their job right they are going to want to be able to share this wonderful world with someone(s). I hope they don’t end up very lonely people at the end of this.
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I am a little surprised that you are all talking about MAD as if it were in the past. You are aware that Putin has been making not so veiled threats about using his arsenal if NATO were to intervene?
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It’s really nice for them that they are so insulated from all these problems; at least, for now.
I honest believe that very, very few of us are prepared for what’s coming over the next 5 years as a result of Putin’s actions as well as all the other issues that existed before yesterday. This is different and more dangerous than anything we’ve faced before and we are very ill equipped to deal with it.
I’m in my ‘60s now and have never been more concerned about the future.
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It definitely has for my DD. She says she doesn’t want kids. The BF, like her, who I can see her marrying, doesn’t want kids. She doesn’t want to bring kids into what she seem as a doomed world. I do hope they change their mind as I’d like to have at least 1 grandkid to spoil.
I don’t know exactly how my kids view their future. They’re focused on finishing college, launching careers, getting married. They seem optimistic overall and are not very political. Although I know many married millennials with multiple kids, 12 families within my extended family alone, I’m the one counseling my kids to think about whether having children is the right course. I’m not overly concerned about climate change because humans are creative and adaptable and we are more than capable of addressing climate issues. I’m very concerned about a myriad of other issues including: the direction and divisiveness of our country, global debt levels and the current/potential geopolitical conflicts that are only just beginning and which our country and allies are woefully unprepared/unwilling to address.
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The biggest change from the past 30-60 years ago for the kids is the flow of information. Kids have 100 times more access to current issues than we did in the past. So while every generation had events that defined their time now it is magnified much more.
That being said D19 says no kids. D23 is maybe 50/50.
Someone said rich people can afford to have kids. Middle class dogs and cats. Low income goldfish.
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I also don’t get the doom and gloom. Unless the earth is headed towards runaway greenhouse warming, humanity as a whole will survive just fine. That doesn’t mean that many people and countries won’t be affected, but that’s been true throughout history due to wars or plagues.
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This discussion gives me deja-vu. When I was a teenager in Germany in the 80s we had the exact same discussions, “how can you bring kids into this world”. We lived on the front lines of the cold war (aware of how long it would take the Russians to arrive at our town) , Chernobyl just happened and the beginnings of the environmentalist movement. And yet, most of my friends went on to have kids in the end.
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Out of 8 cousins my kids’ generation (25-35), 3 have two kids each, 3 more are actively interesting in having kids (or so they say), 2 have mixed feelings about it and are less sure about reproducing. Climate change would be the only global crisis that has been mentioned in their discussions. They may not have the 3 children that we did but I won’t be surprised if all of them end up with one or two.
Mine are no more insulated than yours, they simply don’t perseverate on doom & gloom. Control the controlables and carry on.
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The size of one’s climate footprint is definitely a controllable. Hoping they realize that.
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Depends on ones’ innate personality.
Asked the kids how there were feeling about the drop in the market…
- Me…yikes…pull back to cash the sky is falling.
- DD don’t need it now, it will return, not worried.
- DS. hell…buy up what you can…if it doesn’t recover by the time I need it (he’s 27) we will be having much bigger problems than a drop in the DOW.
Making the best decision based on pessimism, realism and optimism (with splash of realism)
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