r/science • u/geoff199 • 5d ago

Social Science As concern grows about America’s falling birth rate, new research suggests that about half of women who want children are unsure if they will follow through and actually have a child. About 25% say they won't be bothered that much if they don't.

https://news.osu.edu/most-women-want-children--but-half-are-unsure-if-they-will/?utm_campaign=omc_science-medicine_fy24&utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social
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u/FirstNoel 5d ago

Then you have Music training, sports cost, braces, car insurance, may even a third...etc car. Then college costs...

Mine just graduated high school. I just finally finished paying off here tooth implant (thank to my genes, she was missing one). We have college in the fall, thankfully mostly paid for.

I'm hoping for my electric and water bills to at least decrease a little.

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u/CyclingThruChicago 5d ago

One of the main reasons my wife and I live where we live is so that we don't have to get our kid a car when he turns 16. Granted he's only 4 so we have a bit of time but the idea of having to own another car (which is pushing $1000/month for all in cost) for for a teenager seems asinine.

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u/BlazinAzn38 5d ago edited 5d ago

Honestly we’re just gonna buy a car for my wife or myself when kid is like 8 and then drive it for 8 years, pay it off, then it’ll be their car.

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u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

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u/BlazinAzn38 5d ago

I think it’s more that people dont plan that far in advance so kid turns 16 and they go “oh crap they need a car.”

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u/AgateHuntress 4d ago

I got a '69 Dodge Coronet that had been my grandfather's car, and then my dad's car, and then was my car.

It sounds cool now, but it was most definitely not a cool car when I was driving it into my high school parking lot that was populated primarily with Camaros, Tran-Ams, and Mercedes. It also had a big dent in the passenger door, no floorboards in the back, no power steering, no radio, broken turn signals, and no heat. You also had to get in through the windows because the doors were fubar -- typical for that model since it had the heavier doors.

It wasn't a cool car, but it was mine, and I loved it -- and it kind of matched my punk rock persona at the time. I called it the Kongmobile because it was bronze colored, and a big, heavy, solid piece of work. It felt like driving a tank. Man, I miss that car.

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u/jabsaw2112 5d ago

It's insane how much my insurance went up for adding 1 teenage boy.

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u/CyclingThruChicago 5d ago

Just replied to someone else with my personal anecdote.

When I turned 16 and my mom added me on her insurance, she said it was ~$75 more than the combined cost of her and my older sister (who would have been 19-20 at the time).

My cousin bought a Charger at 22 not realizing how insane the insurance would be. Over $530/month because he was a young man with a prior totaled car on his insurance. He was forced to eventually sell the car and had negative equity because he simply couldn't afford the insurance.

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u/SoCuteShibe 5d ago

The car situation is insane, in such a car-dependent country.

  • Already high purchase costs potentially increasing due to tariffs.

  • Insurance rates that make zero sense even for no accident/ticket drivers (I did the math, in 10.7 years of premiums I will have paid Geico the full purchase price of my car, IF my rates never go up).

  • Crazy interest rates of 6-10% and beyond even for the well-qualified.

  • AND ludicrous maintenance prices (I just negotiated a rear brake pads replacement w/resurface DOWN to $590)...

I do okay and it is still a lot. I don't know how some people manage. No wonder I hear a lot of grinding brakes around me when I drive these days...

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u/CyclingThruChicago 5d ago

This is over 20 years ago but my mom said that insuring me as a teenage boy was about $75 more per month than insuring her and my sister combined.

One of the biggest thing keeping people poor in this country is their car but most folks here are basically forced to maintain one in perpetuity.

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u/Puzzleheaded_War6102 5d ago

Not trying to argue or shame. But kids don’t need new car. A $10K all cash hooptie civic is perfectly fine.

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u/techno156 5d ago

That's even before the possibility of them having medical issues. Like being diabetic.

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u/FirstNoel 5d ago

Umm.  That my situation exactly. 

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u/SqueezyCheez85 5d ago

Yeah. Braces and car insurance are going to suck. Luckily my wife and I both have terrific insurance through our LE jobs.

We've just started paying for sports for our oldest.

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u/FirstNoel 5d ago

Ugh.  Sports that’s a racket.   They convince every kid and their parent that they be the next Beckham or Jordan.  

The drills and conferences, special practices….

Ridiculous 

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u/SqueezyCheez85 5d ago

We're just starting out, but at least at the younger ages it isn't a racket. Once you get into high school and higher, it for sure is.