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Or they could plan their lives accordingly. Get educated in a field where they can get an income that will support the lifestyle they want and stop making excuses about it or asking others to pay for it. Marry a spouse that has the same value system to avoid divorce.
You know: be accountable. Have some self respect.
That desired lifestyle does not necessarily include children.
Or they could plan their lives accordingly. Get educated in a field where they can get an income that will support the lifestyle they want and stop making excuses about it or asking others to pay for it. Marry a spouse that has the same value system to avoid divorce.
You know: be accountable. Have some self respect.
They are being accountable. That's the entire point of why so many delay having children. Such as me and my spouse.
This is not the least bit surprising to me. One of my kids is also pretty negative about the prospect of having children. She says she might consider adopting a child (one child) once she's well established in her career and over the age of thirty-five. I just shrug. It's her life. We are a happy and close-knit family, so that's not the issue. She's just very serious about her studies and establishing herself as financially independent once she graduates from college. My other two kids don't seem to have strong feelings about it either way, but I don't see either one of them rushing to settle down and have a family.
Why do most people not have kids? 1. my money, 2. my independence. By definition, those are selfish choices. They don't want to share. As I said it is harsh, but by definition it is true.
Once again you are wrong. They don't want to charge taxpayers for their own kids, a very selfless reason.
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Originally Posted by newtovenice
Safety? In the US, crime is at an all time low. So violence? No. You are very safe today.
Does that mean people should not be concerned about safety? No.
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Originally Posted by newtovenice
Natural disasters? The world has existed for billions of years. So has nature. That's not new.
Climate change has increased the rate of natural disasters exponentially. Climate change is caused by us, and the fact that there are too many usses in the world already. But I'm sure you don't believe in that.
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Originally Posted by newtovenice
Health issues? Take care of yourself. MOST people shouldn't have health issues. MOST people. Eat healthy, exercise, stay a healthy weight, get enough sleep.
Does that mean we don't deserve health insurance? Apparently Republicans don't think we do. So how do we care for our kids' health problems? They have accidents and illnesses too. Healthcare is not cheap.
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Originally Posted by newtovenice
Financial insecurity for the next generation? I don't know what that means.
You know what the topic of this thread is, right? The fact that millenials are far more financially insecure than the generations before them. And unless public policy changes, it will only get worse, not better.
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Originally Posted by newtovenice
50% divorce rate? Pick a better spouse. Seriously. Get to know them before marriage. That does not mean knowing their favorite band or drink. It means hard conversations. Watching behavior patterns. Eyes open. Not wanting a big party and presents, but wanting a lifelong partnership with the same value system. Work on the marriage. Put some effort in when times are tough.Most marriages fail because they NEVER should have gotten married in the first place. I know people who have said that they knew they would be divorced while saying their VOWS. Really? Another couple admitted they were closet swingers and jealously raged. WTF? Pick a better partner.
Really? Every married couple knows they will get divorced before they walk down the aisle? Just ask Melania Trump if she knew her husband would be a serial cheater and the entire world would know about it. I'm sure she would have thought twice before marriage.
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Originally Posted by newtovenice
Job insecurity? People lose jobs all the time. Again, not new.
Think for just one minute. When a person (or couple) is on a tight budget in the first place, they are in more trouble when they lose a job than when they are more financially secure. That's pretty obvious.
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Originally Posted by newtovenice
People need to grow up. Stop making excuses and be honest with themselves. I swear 50 years ago 20 y olds were more mature than 35 y olds today.
They are grown up. That's why they aren't having kids they can't afford.
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Originally Posted by newtovenice
Or they could plan their lives accordingly. Get educated in a field where they can get an income that will support the lifestyle they want and stop making excuses about it or asking others to pay for it. Marry a spouse that has the same value system to avoid divorce. You know: be accountable. Have some self respect.
Once again I'm stating the obvious, but if these so called selfish adults aren't having babies they can't afford, they aren't asking others to pay for them are they? By all means OP, tell us the magic formula that will allow millennials to afford these things. I would love to know the secret. Because expenses have gone up and not incomes.
College is no longer the ticket to a good job, never mind high school. So instead of sitting at your computer judging millennials for not having children they can't afford, tell us what career they can choose that will allow them to pay their expenses without going into boatloads of debt. And I'd love to know your secret to a lasting marriage. Because I'm sure you've never been divorced either.
I think more people need to be reminded that government and corporate policies (along with advertising and social pressure) that are mainly mainly responsible for the current state of affairs -- or at least that is my opinion.
It wasn't THAT long ago that most men made enough money that women could choose to be SAHMs if they wanted. It has only been in the past few decades that unless a couple was either "born wealthy" or a spouse had a VERY good income -- or they were content to live a "bare bones" existence and/or have SNAP or other forms of government assistance -- that it was a given that BOTH spouses had to work, with the resulting income in most cases being spent almost entirely on child care in one form or another.
If people made good salaries and/or did not feel that they had to have a big/expensive house and lots of expensive goodies, I think more middle-class young people would be more open to having children.
P.S. It IS still possible for a middle-class woman to be a SAHM, but there would be some sacrifices involved in most cases. In order for me to do so, I gave up a fulfilling career, my husband and I rarely bought anything we did not need for several years, we lived in a house that cost less that half of what we could "qualify" for, and when the kids were in school, I became an educational assistant so that my working hours would tie in with their school hours.
However, I do disagree with the opinion that people who don't have kids are selfish. In many cases, I think it is more selfish to have kids than to not have them -- and especially if someone cannot afford them without SNAP.
Going back to the 50's most women lacked education and careers, thus nothing to " give-up.
More men were veterans with GI benefits for housing and education.
Huge families were raised in housing nearly half the size it is today. The masses did not live in air-conditioned comfort. Kids shared bedrooms. 1-1.5 baths was the norm.
Dining out/ordering- in was a rare event.
Vacations were uncommon.
One landline per household was common and many of the landlines were shared.
Families typically had one car. Even fewer cars in urban areas. The cost to fuel and insure it and liability was an afterthought.
People did not have the stuff they tend to have today.
Unions bargained on behalf of workers for wages, benefits and pensions.
Offices were stuffed with support people who performed a variety of functions that technology substitution made obsolete.
Treatments and cures for disease that exist today did not, back when.
75% of the adult population was not overweight/obese.
Well, although i certainly don't always agree with newtovenice, I will say that she has a point that more people should go into the trades (plumbing, construction, etc.). It seems that some areas of the country are very short on people with those kinds of skills, and many of those jobs pay very good money. (See link below.)
My husband and I are in the beginning stages of possibly buying a lot back East and having our dream retirement home built (fairly modest at just about 1,500 s.f. of living space), but in both areas of the country we are considering, we were told that there is up to a two-year wait once the contracts are signed before the builders would even start on the home due to a backlog. Also, as a side note to this, we now live in the Denver area, and after a bad hailstorm, there is often a three-month wait to fix any vehicle damage worse than a cracked windshield.
I sympathize. If you do not want kids or truly feel you cannot make the financial commitment, then more power to you. Better than having them.
When I was in my 20s, kids were not on my radar screen at all. I was not rolling in the dough and knew grad school was down the road. I also wanted to travel, go carousing, and chase women. And I did all of that.
Got married in my late 30s and we had our one kid pretty quickly. Parenthood is great, no doubt. And sure, I would like to have more kids, but that would be problematic.
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By all means OP, tell us the magic formula that will allow millennials to afford these things. I would love to know the secret. Because expenses have gone up and not incomes. 
That's how polls work. 613 said climate change was a factor in their not having kids. 33% - which is what I said.
