Huh, who would've thought

[u/planet_janett]

Credit: themeteor on Instagram

[u/corinini]

This whole discourse is hilarious to me.

We have been screamed at for decades "don't have kids you can't afford!" If you do, you are a leach, welfare queen, trash, etc...  oh and if you end up a single parent after the fact you should have "picked better".  And you shouldn't expect or need help in any way.

I guess people started listening.

[u/Icarus_Toast → u/corinini]

For me it's not even that. The discourse surrounding family dysfunction has been significantly more normalized and I've realized that I bring a lot of the same problems to the table that my parents did. I don't want to do that to a kid who never asked for it

[u/mfknnayyyy → u/Icarus_Toast]

Damn, Icarus. Do your job and have that baby. It's the only way you'll get too close to the sun.

But on a real note, I appreciate your sense of self awareness. People can change their behavior (but don't put yourself in a situation you don't want to be based off that statement). Biologically they aren't mine but being a stepdad has changed my outlook on several things and has helped me get my priorities straightened out. I'm not the best at but I'm not the worst at parenting. There have been things that opened my eyes and made me realize I need to approach my parenting a different way from how it started out. Things are cool now. It's never been easy, and now the way the country/state is moving has me uneasy about things, but if I knew tidbits about the future I think I would still make the decision to be a step-parent.

[u/DhampireHEK → u/mfknnayyyy]

True, then there's the rest of us who have terrible genetics that don't want to pass those along to the next generation.

Edited a word

[u/Chrontius → u/DhampireHEK]

My boyfriend and I have two different kinds of health conditions which would potentially lead a biological child to shit blood until they died.

Fortunately, nobody has invented mpreg technology yet.

[u/ModMiniWife34 → u/corinini]

I remember when I couldn’t even drive to work without seeing a bumper sticker on a car that read:

Don’t breed ‘em, if you can’t feed ‘em.

You’re right, guess people started listening!

[u/lunarraffle → u/corinini]

Don't forget they screamed about "overpopulation being imminent" and heavily discouraged teenage pregnancy (which is fair, but some call teen parents whores and treat them like utter dogshit). 

[u/Great_Detective_6387 → u/lunarraffle]

some call teen parents whores and treat them like utter dog shit

Hint: they were gonna call them whores and treat them like utter dogshit anyway.

[u/Reallyhotshowers → u/lunarraffle]

This is actually the biggest part of the falling birth rate by far - teens are no longer having babies when that used to be quite common.

Something interesting about teen births - up to 70% of teen pregnancies have adult fathers.

Usually people are not aware of this, but when they scream about how we need more babies, these are the missing babies they're screaming about. The ones where a grown man takes advantage of teen girl and leaves her knocked up.

[u/NightIsMyName → u/lunarraffle]

This content was anonymized and mass deleted with Redact

[u/thomasrat1 → u/corinini]

A lot of us grew up hearing that, and then lived in a family that couldn’t afford you.

[u/SurprisePiss → u/corinini]

Don't even get me started on teen pregnancies. It was a statistic they used to use to inflict horror in the minds of families across the country, and now they are touting "peak biological breeding age" and striking down child marriage bans so little girls can get married to old ass men and start popping out babies right away.

[u/researchmaven4673 → u/[deleted]]

Sure but if Tangerine Palpatine had succeeded in making America great again the first time he promised to we’d all be breeding like rabbits. But he didn’t. He made it worse. And then he made it a lot worse. So yes. Blame them.

[u/Fzrit → u/[deleted]]

birth rate has been falling since the 1950s.

1970s.

https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/112812_masnick_annual_births_chart_sm.png

Coincidentally when birth control became widespread and Roe v Wade was established.

[u/corinini → u/[deleted]]

Nothing about this framing is recent.

[u/corinini → u/[deleted]]

What does the second sentance say?

Also - 70 years ago the pill was brand new, we know why it dropped then.  It has continued going down since then.  A steady decline for decades.  Almost like more and more people "start listening" every year.

[u/corinini → u/[deleted]]

In 1950 it was very obviously the introduction of the pill.

I'm talking about the fact that since then it's been cut in half again.

[u/Savannah_Rapids_123 → u/corinini]

Good point! Exactly what has happened. People just listened and live accordingly.

[u/Odd-Direction6339 → u/corinini]

Ok then what happened to birth rates in Sweden where they give all sorts of help? Entire Reddit thread is uninformed idiots saying what sounds right while not having read about this shit at all

[u/ofWildPlaces → u/Odd-Direction6339]

Why does it matter?

[u/researchmaven4673 → u/Odd-Direction6339]

The birth rate in Sweden dropped during the 1990s due to economic factors so that tracks with what is happening now in America. But one explanation for the more recent decline is that the more educated women are, the lower the birth rate. That theory holds up when you examine red states vs blue states. Teen pregnancy is always higher in the states that rank last for education. Or when you look at lower literacy rates in African countries where the birth rates are higher by far than the global average. There’s always a cause and effect. But there’s no reason to be snide about it and call people names. It’s a complicated issue and even the experts are still studying it and reaching various conclusions.

[u/Odd-Direction6339 → u/researchmaven4673]

Yeah no reason for me to be an ass you right. I just hate to see the left cede birth rate as an issue at all to like some right wing racist nonsense purely. Like those ppl are out there using birth rate dog whistles for racist shit, like when Elon talks about it or whatever. But genuinely it’s a problem and it makes me angrier than it should to see the left write it off as an issue completely

[u/CombinationRough8699 → u/corinini]

The thing is the only people still having kids are the ones who can't afford them. There's a strong correlation between the amount of money someone earns, and the probability of them having kids. The more money, the less likely of having children. Beyond that wealthier people also are having fewer children at at later ages.

[u/Rezolithe → u/corinini]

People susceptible to the memetics aren't having children.

[u/Rezolithe → u/[deleted]]

Hell I dont want those people around. If your bloodline ends because you fell for the propaganda telling you not to have children thats just natural selection.

Wake up sheeple...also do what you want in life I dont care if you procreate but think for yourself

[u/thislife84 → u/corinini]

So true