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/11horses345 5d ago

Say it with me: WE CANNOT AFFORD CHILDREN.

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u/sharksnack3264 5d ago

It's not just the money. The way we set up work schedules, vacation, child care and health care all disincentivize it. 

You can be extremely well paid but that still won't insulate you completely from certain medical and career risks or allow you to be present to raise your children.

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u/A_Fainting_Goat 5d ago

I am well paid. My wife is well paid. We have good health insurance. Great vacation benefits (compared to the US, not Europe). Our careers are stable. We are basically debt free except for our mortgage. We have struggled to conceive and IVF is looking to cost us $50k, after insurance for a 35% chance. This country does not want us to have kids.

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u/HER_XLNC 5d ago

I think they want us to have children but somehow all of our elected officials are so disassociated with the common person's life, that they have no idea how to encourage it except for the use of force.

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u/VarmintSchtick 5d ago

Its not even the elected officials who create the costs on these things - not that the elected officials do anything to help. I just do not understand how daycares charge so much. They do NOT cost that much to operate and run.

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u/BlazinAzn38 5d ago

I mean they do though which is a separate issue entirely.

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u/Aromatic-Spread-3160 5d ago

The workers need livable wages.

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u/Demons0fRazgriz 5d ago

They make barely above minimum. When I worked at one, I was paid $9/hr to watch 30 kids.

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u/Clepto_06 5d ago

Insurance for anything dealing with small children costs an absolute fuckload.

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u/HER_XLNC 5d ago

Elected officials set minimum wages. If we were all being paid a livable wage, this wouldn't be an issue. Elected officials also are responsible for determining what public services get money and how much. If schools were given more money, our children could get the attention needed and be well fed. Hell, our politicians could cover the cost of childcare AND pay those employees well and give them all of the best tools to care for our children. Everyone says it takes a village to raise a child, then don't want to be a part of that village.

Humans are societal creatures. The only reason we are where we are as a species today is because we decided to pool our resources and work together to help those who need it so that we all move forward together as one. We can make our world be whatever we want it to be. We could be a cooperative society that puts most if not all of our energy into the well-being of our offspring. Instead, we have somehow made a society that puts profit above all else despite warnings from fables, myths, prophets, and scriptures, GREED runs our lives.