So tired of these stories

I am so tired of these stories about women choosing not to have children and the birthrate being lower than it has been. How about this? Women, when given the choice to not have kids via BC and abortion, say, "No thank you!" https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/key-reason-birth-rate-declining_us_5b0725cfe4b0568a88097feb?utm_source=women_fb&ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000046&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=hp_fb_pages

Quote: "We haven't made it financially viable to have children."
This is a straw man argument, who is the "we"? And there is a serious sunken cost fallacy with having children. Often the investment isn't worth the return. If kids were high value and rare this argument might make sense. This is why it falls on the parent to provide the funds to have their children. And we the taxpayers have retirement, expenses, health, etc. to be concerned with. Daycare workers deserve a fair wage and parents should be paying 100% of this and not relying on any subsidization or expecting workers to take care of the most important people in their lives at an unfair wage. And really? If I'd brought one of my pets into a pet care facility I'd be happy to pay for the good care, not arguing or trying to demand someone else pay it for me.

If a parent can't afford daycare then knowing prior to having kids if there are dedicated adults (relatives most likely) nearby who will watch their children is key. With lots of grandparents no longer retiring at 62 or 65 out of necessity there may not be enough support to have children. And some grandparents may not want to be defacto babysitters as they have raised their kids or may have health concerns, etc. I've know grandparents who agreed to watch grandchildren (usually for a short period of time) and feel used and overextended because they need to work and are being guilt-tripped into free daycare. Once they agree, parents just assume the grandparents will feel some sense of obligation and often forget the grandparents are people too.

I knew a woman who actually forced her six-year-old daughter to babysit her three and one-year-old brats for HOURS.

+++++++++++++

Passive Aggressive
Master Of Anti-brat
Excuses!

People deciding not to have kids has almost nothing to do with the support available, and very much to do with women having alternatives.

In many countries in Europe, there is very generous parental leave, subsidized childcare, tax bonuses, etc. And still the birthrate is dropping. I, for one, find it rather enheartening that when you give women something other to do than obsess over offspring, a good many will say "fuck this noise" and focus on career, personal fulfillment, and so on. (Those who do have kids tend to get so obsessed with them that they don't have the energy to spare for more than one, at most two.)

Meanwhile, who reproduces the most? It is women in poor countries with low education. Usually in such countries the government doesn't provide any support at all, and people can only expect help from their families.

So if a government really wanted to raise the birth rate, the solution is not to offer more benefits, but to completely remove them all, including retirement savings schemes and mandatory childhood education. A nation full of uneducated women will result in more children, but the all-important economy will probably take a nose dive with a lack of skilled workers.

I'm so sick of all this moaning about low birth rates. The world's population is still rising, and the environment is utterly fucked thanks to the "economy". Why don't we use this precious opportunity to stop bemoaning the Ponzi-scheme we have, and start considering a more sustainable model? The "thinkers" we have today are anything but visionary; they can't even imagine an economic system that isn't based on the illusion of perpetual growth.

We will just have to adjust to this new trend....like we adjust to every new trend. Actually this is good, the future will have less unskilled jobs like dept stores, etc., now there will be less people to be unemployed.

Quote
cfuter
We will just have to adjust to this new trend....like we adjust to every new trend. Actually this is good, the future will have less unskilled jobs like dept stores, etc., now there will be less people to be unemployed.

And wouldn't you rather have a robot wiping your ass when you're old, instead of a surly, stressed, underpaid young adult?

I'm afraid this trend will set the anti-choicers on the move. It did happen in my home country under the communist regime, the same problem, the natality was too low and they needed more workers erhm...unskilled cheap labor. So next, birth control was banned, sexual education became illegal and abortions were banned and criminalized. The result...about 10 000 women lost their lives and orphanages became extermination camps. Search orphanages in Romania, i tried to watch a documentary made by a German dude but i couldn't. I almost vomited.

Now it was in the news our foreign affairs minister was joining anti-abortion marches in Canada on tax-payers money. We already have a conservative party in power so i'm very uncomfortable when the media keeps on and on with low birth rates. All that we have earned can be taken back in a matter of days.

If it doesn't go that far be prepared that people without kids to pay the price in taxes and being discriminated against.