Why fewer people are planning to have kids | About That

Research suggests a significant shift over the last two decades in the number of North American adults who are planning on having kids. Andrew Chang explores three main reasons for the generational change.

CORRECTION (March 6, 2024): A previous version of this video misspelled Marina Adshade's name at 2:00. The misspelling has been blurred.

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[boosadie]

Having raised two kids I have to say that small children seem to thrive when they have their parents time and attention. That's a lot harder to accomplish today when you have to work two jobs .

[HectorDobezilla]

When both parents are working 10+ hours and can hardly afford a 1 bedroom how is this a surprise?

[daysofspooks]

Can't even afford rent, how would raising a kid work out either.

[rot-oh]

The problem isn't being able to afford kids, its being able to afford a place to live and groceries

[john_doe_not_found]

Humans are an animal. Animals under stress will not reproduce. Stressors in our lives: employment, housing, medical, social, other. To get a good job requires education, education requires money and takes away from your working years. Housing has doubled in cost, average Canadian home is 700k? By the time someone can afford this, they are too old for kids. The biological clock goes wonky at 35 and dies some time around 40.

Government knows how to engineer a population boom. They did this in the 1950s on purpose. They built tonnes of cheap starter homes and provided jobs that one person could support a family with. Today, even with two people working, you can't buy a house, nor support a family.

[DanT]

Wages are stagnant and Housing is extortionate. Not a big mystery to me.

[andrewmartin]

I am a public school teacher, I don't travel, I cook my own meals - and I live paycheck to paycheck without kids. no kids for me! My insurance plan doesn't cover anything, half paycheck goes to taxes... At this point, it's not a choice.

You need to have wealthy parents to subsidize new families nowadays.

[kurtr]

Job security is too fragile in Canada and cost of living too high. It is scary to think of having kids in this day and age. Too much uncertainty for us millennials.

[PatrickLaurin]

Can't afford a house, so why would I have kids...

[randomname]

How can people have kids when they can't even afford anything with explosive cost of everything.

[MHKing]

One thing I'm surprised was never even mentioned was the psychological factor. Childhood experiences have a huge impact on how we think about and value family life or not.

Personally, my family and social experiences in childhood were often full of drama, anguish, feeling minimized, hearing my parents argue with each other non-stop at each other's throats, being abused by my older siblings, neglected by my dad, abused by schoolmates, insulted by teachers, etc. etc. It turned me into a hermit and misanthrope, and I have no desire to put any child through that, nor do I crave the social environment of a family anymore. I'm willing to bet I'm not the only one who feels this way.

[kated]

Many women of my generation also grew up watching the women in their lives working full-time, and then coming home to do 80-100% of the household chores, cooking and child rearing. Today's women are more likely to value their time, and want partners who are more emotionally intelligent. In my area it has become the norm for women to be looking for partners willing to do 40-50% of those chores, and will either refuse to date or separate from men who are not willing to share the home burdens.

[carlaiveglia]

Im 55 with 3 children that i wanted. My youngest child has special needs, now thats an entire different ball game, one that nobody can prepare for. At 55 im still taking care of her. So when thinking of having kids, ask yourself could i cope with a special needs child? If the answer is no, then forget about it.

[danielleemond]

The socialising part is interesting to me, because we actually socialise LESS; there is no "hanging out on the side of the street, talking with neighboors" anymore. We have to schedule it. It takes time and energy to socialise, even for the kids, you have to "be part of the basketball team" not "shooting 3 points in front of your friend driveway". Everyting is so different from when WE were growing up, it's frankly intimidating.

[Yolo]

As a single father to a 18 yr old son, having kids out of marriage is not advisable.

[djayjp]

Just getting an apartment with an extra 2 bedrooms is the biggest hurdle tbh....

[OneTrueKing]

People want kids but cant because of artificialy skyrocket cost of living and housing!

[Swayze_S.L]

I work 60hrs a week and my wife works 40hrs.. we both have decent jobs and can barely save money for a down payment on a house. Luckily we can still afford rent and groceries for now so I’m grateful but kids are out of the question.

[olenahommel]

No children - no problems. This is my personal experience. I am 48.

[mrst]

Children are a luxury, not a necessity !! Those who can't afford kids, seem to be the ones who have the most.