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I completely agree that today's world is not like the postwar WW 2 boom for most people. However in my world today, people are very well off....and still many people are still choosing to forgo having children. In fact, the wealthier these kids are - and some of them are taking down tremendous money in the city (and/or they have family m…
I completely agree that today's world is not like the postwar WW 2 boom for most people. However in my world today, people are very well off....and still many people are still choosing to forgo having children. In fact, the wealthier these kids are - and some of them are taking down tremendous money in the city (and/or they have family money) - the more access they have to the good life, travel & partying, etc - kids would just throw a wrench-in-the-carousel. So one could say it's 'wealth & decadence' putting the breaks on childrearing in some quarters...and most of these people, at least my kids' friends are well-educated & 'liberal'. On the other hand, since Covid, I have moved to the countryside and have gotten involved with the local town community (and the town Republican committee). Today, I am amongst people that are more average citizens economically, like the ones I grew up with. Here in the hills, the young are having children but I also know that budgets are tight and a $10 expenditure is something they think about - lots! Again, I am observing more Republicans at the moment because of my involvement with the Republican Town Committee. But to your point, it's not inexpensive having children. But when was it ever economically (and emotionally) easy to raise children? In the late 1950's/1069's America it was also a strain economically. the BIG DIFFERENCE, I see is the expectation of acquiring stuff and services. We didn't have much money growing up, but we also didn't know there was stuff to be had. We didn't see what others had to be able to want (envy) other things - designer clothes, travel, iphones, tv's etc - there was no Instagram and social media - there was no expectation of having stuff. We were rather happy in our rather modest world (I remember anxiously awaiting the day my mother would be replacing my ratty underwear!!). People made do, pleasures were simpler (backyard BBQs, running around the neighborhood until the sun went down, playing in the woods, etc). Raising children requires self-sacrifice and it seems to me that there's resistance to dedicating oneself to 'the other'. Even my daughter who had a baby last year, and just announced she's having twins, bemoans that there is little or no time left just for her. I agreed with her. But it is what it is - kids need care and attention. And the issue comes down to whether you have it within yourself to make that sacrifice.
This is all true, and a good description of liberal attitudes.
There's also a difference because singles and married no kids, just consume stuff. They may be socially connected but, there's an assimilation-cultural track missing from their lives that essential for child-rearing parents to adapt and influence. Parents affect culture much more than no-kids adults do.