This article notes that “right-wing governments, including the US and Hungary, are increasingly blaming falling fertility rates on a rejection of parenthood”, as if today’s young adults just don’t want children.
But the author suggests that actually people do want children, and one of the main reasons they’re having fewer children is because they can’t afford many children.
Thoughts?
We are only one and done because of financial constraints. I’d say that the package of benefits the government offers parents in my location is fantastic and good on them for doing so well to pull it out of the bag. However, what they don’t help with is early years childcare costs (0-3 years) which costs us around the same as our mortgage each month. Only now are we able to get 30 hours paid care. That would be ok if the cost of living and mortgage rates weren’t already exorbitant and we cannot even consider taking another 3 year hit with our current young dependant.
So yeah, we’d love another kid, but we aren’t able to afford one!