This shift is caused by of the lack of social supports for parents and caregivers. There is almost no help that parents get for being parents - mothers get lower wages, fathers get wage bumps and are expected to work more. Caregivers are poorly paid.
Failing to have a category for meaningful relationships or community strikes me as a profound limitation to the statistic. The question forces a skew between having a bio family or traditional family and working. So many of us (parents) have friendships or a life outside of work.
An interesting read! You might be wrong jumping to the conclusion that parents value meaningful work for their children more than meaningful relationships. You assume that marriage and parent/child relationships are the only/most meaningful ones to have. What about defacto relationships and friendships, for example? I think the rejection (noticeably by mothers more than by fathers) is of traditional structures not of meaningful relationships. People are, I think, able to see that there are a variety of ways to be fulfilled and to contriubte in life other than following the traditional path. I suspect the state of the world (politics, war, climate change, pandemic, cost of living etc) could be another reason that parents are less keen to become grandparents. Not because they don't want grandchildren but that they worry about the world their grandchildren would be brought into.
The LOCKDOWN of schools and small businesses caused these societal shifts not the virus! The teacher’s unions in concert with the CDC and their draconian mandates have caused immense harm to our children.
Mothers need to get back to growing independent children who can stand on their own, raise a family and contribute to society in a positive unselfish way.
The options to answer are worded weirdly… for instance ‘children’ as compared to ‘enjoyable work’ - perhaps people would have answered differently if given an option like ‘meaningful familial relationships.’ Not to mention the comparisons; in this day and age, financial stability is pretty much a baseline requirement for said children.
"Happiness is defined more by work these days than by family. If given a choice between having children find meaningful work or meaningful relationships, parents by four to one prefer the former." That not a sound conclusion based on the data. Too much inference. There was no "meaningful relationships" question. Lots of people have meaningful relationships and community without getting married or having children. Getting married and having children has never been a surefire way for meaningful relationships, anyway (half of marriages end in divorce; many children and adults do not have meaningful relationships with their parents).
Imo, more parents are realizing that pressuring people to conform to traditional societal mandates is a quick road to unhappy, unfulfilling lives. Examples: pressuring their children into status careers, regardless of enjoyment; pressuring them to have children, whether or not they actually want them; pressuring them to get married, usually by a certain age, and not to get divorced no matter how terrible or abusive the marriage is. Also, not being financially stable is one of the biggest factors for low quality of life, poor health, unhappiness--"financial independence" doesn't mean buying fancy things. It means meeting Maslow's hierarchy of needs without your parents help. And many parents, because of the economy of the last decades, don't have enough financial stability to help their kids out, even if they wanted to. I think parents are learning that children need to be empowered to become themselves and make their own responsible choices--that they're kids are not actually belongings or a literal part of them. They are separate humans who who need to be able to become independent adults with their own minds, opinions, lifestyles--rather than being forced into their parents ideal lives.
I agree that people need a good, steady job and adequate income to support themselves and their family. However, the priority of many young people today is to live together, buy a house, nice cars, at least one dog, take nice vacations and then maybe think about getting married and having a child. I think their priorities are wrong.
This shift is caused by of the lack of social supports for parents and caregivers. There is almost no help that parents get for being parents - mothers get lower wages, fathers get wage bumps and are expected to work more. Caregivers are poorly paid.
Failing to have a category for meaningful relationships or community strikes me as a profound limitation to the statistic. The question forces a skew between having a bio family or traditional family and working. So many of us (parents) have friendships or a life outside of work.
An interesting read! You might be wrong jumping to the conclusion that parents value meaningful work for their children more than meaningful relationships. You assume that marriage and parent/child relationships are the only/most meaningful ones to have. What about defacto relationships and friendships, for example? I think the rejection (noticeably by mothers more than by fathers) is of traditional structures not of meaningful relationships. People are, I think, able to see that there are a variety of ways to be fulfilled and to contriubte in life other than following the traditional path. I suspect the state of the world (politics, war, climate change, pandemic, cost of living etc) could be another reason that parents are less keen to become grandparents. Not because they don't want grandchildren but that they worry about the world their grandchildren would be brought into.
So interesting and scary. I never would have expected this. I’m curious if this is affected by socioeconomics. Thank you for sharing!
This is a sobering commentary on our society. Family and children are more enriching than a fat bank account.
The LOCKDOWN of schools and small businesses caused these societal shifts not the virus! The teacher’s unions in concert with the CDC and their draconian mandates have caused immense harm to our children.
Mothers need to get back to growing independent children who can stand on their own, raise a family and contribute to society in a positive unselfish way.
The options to answer are worded weirdly… for instance ‘children’ as compared to ‘enjoyable work’ - perhaps people would have answered differently if given an option like ‘meaningful familial relationships.’ Not to mention the comparisons; in this day and age, financial stability is pretty much a baseline requirement for said children.
Maybe parents are recognising that their children don’t have to get married and raise children to have meaningful relationships and a happy life.
Why is the author assuming that meaningful relationships don't exist outside of marriage...?
"Happiness is defined more by work these days than by family. If given a choice between having children find meaningful work or meaningful relationships, parents by four to one prefer the former." That not a sound conclusion based on the data. Too much inference. There was no "meaningful relationships" question. Lots of people have meaningful relationships and community without getting married or having children. Getting married and having children has never been a surefire way for meaningful relationships, anyway (half of marriages end in divorce; many children and adults do not have meaningful relationships with their parents).
Imo, more parents are realizing that pressuring people to conform to traditional societal mandates is a quick road to unhappy, unfulfilling lives. Examples: pressuring their children into status careers, regardless of enjoyment; pressuring them to have children, whether or not they actually want them; pressuring them to get married, usually by a certain age, and not to get divorced no matter how terrible or abusive the marriage is. Also, not being financially stable is one of the biggest factors for low quality of life, poor health, unhappiness--"financial independence" doesn't mean buying fancy things. It means meeting Maslow's hierarchy of needs without your parents help. And many parents, because of the economy of the last decades, don't have enough financial stability to help their kids out, even if they wanted to. I think parents are learning that children need to be empowered to become themselves and make their own responsible choices--that they're kids are not actually belongings or a literal part of them. They are separate humans who who need to be able to become independent adults with their own minds, opinions, lifestyles--rather than being forced into their parents ideal lives.
I’ll save U the suspense...it’s not funny.
I agree that people need a good, steady job and adequate income to support themselves and their family. However, the priority of many young people today is to live together, buy a house, nice cars, at least one dog, take nice vacations and then maybe think about getting married and having a child. I think their priorities are wrong.