Thank you for sharing all of the different perspectives. Selfishly, it makes me feel a lot less alone as a parent.
I’m curious if you saw any themes in the comments generationally. I saw a few with kids in their 20s and it made me wonder how different parenting is nowadays. Obviously each generation has its own challenges. The pandemic brought new and unique challenges that we’re still dealing with. As the parent of a 4th grader, whose age cohort is being tracked nationally as the kids suffering most, academically, it is very hard to not feel like I am failing her constantly.
I found this Ezra Klein podcast interesting. It's the second of two podcasts he's done recently on declining birthrates worldwide. But this one is the better of the two, IMO. My main takeaway is that, as people gain more choices, more options, in their lives, they tend to have less kids. Having kids becomes just one activity of many, and must compete against those other activities. Inevitably, birth rates decline. You seem a product of this, as do I, with my " one and done" child.
I wonder what this means for the future of the human species? Obviously, we don't want to take away people's options, as was done particularly for women in the past, but is it possible we will end up a victim of our own success? Going extinct simply because not enough people could be bothered to reproduce?
I suspect that before this happens, technology will intervene with extra-utero gestation and state-raised children. And what kind of people will that produce?
Maybe AI will supplant us before it comes to that!
Thanks so much for taking the time to share all you heard! It’s fun to hear from a slice of your community, and definitely makes me feel connected as someone who unashamedly has 3 kids and unashamedly tells other people to run the other way and save themselves (if they’re on the fence).
you have such a lovely audience! thanks for sharing!
Thank you for sharing all of the different perspectives. Selfishly, it makes me feel a lot less alone as a parent.
I’m curious if you saw any themes in the comments generationally. I saw a few with kids in their 20s and it made me wonder how different parenting is nowadays. Obviously each generation has its own challenges. The pandemic brought new and unique challenges that we’re still dealing with. As the parent of a 4th grader, whose age cohort is being tracked nationally as the kids suffering most, academically, it is very hard to not feel like I am failing her constantly.
I found this Ezra Klein podcast interesting. It's the second of two podcasts he's done recently on declining birthrates worldwide. But this one is the better of the two, IMO. My main takeaway is that, as people gain more choices, more options, in their lives, they tend to have less kids. Having kids becomes just one activity of many, and must compete against those other activities. Inevitably, birth rates decline. You seem a product of this, as do I, with my " one and done" child.
I wonder what this means for the future of the human species? Obviously, we don't want to take away people's options, as was done particularly for women in the past, but is it possible we will end up a victim of our own success? Going extinct simply because not enough people could be bothered to reproduce?
I suspect that before this happens, technology will intervene with extra-utero gestation and state-raised children. And what kind of people will that produce?
Maybe AI will supplant us before it comes to that!
Anyway, here's the podcast: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/22/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-caitlyn-collins.html
Thanks so much for taking the time to share all you heard! It’s fun to hear from a slice of your community, and definitely makes me feel connected as someone who unashamedly has 3 kids and unashamedly tells other people to run the other way and save themselves (if they’re on the fence).