Much has been said about fallen birth rates and what they mean for the economies of the Western world, especially for consumer and government spending. We are after all economic beings, are we not? We are only economic beings, yes? So whatever lower birth rates entail, it will be economic in nature, or so our wise demographers tell us.

 Less has been said about how lowered fertility has changed the entire tenor of society. One hundred years ago, roughly three-fourths of American households included children, today only 32 percent do. Let’s leave aside for the moment the pressing matter of what this portends for our civilization and simply notice the changes. Do you notice? Does it seem odd?

Do the streets seem quiet and the playgrounds empty? Have you met children without siblings and first cousins? Have you noticed holiday tables with a child or two, the lone survivors of a lost tribe?

Have you noticed spoiled children, juvenile deities whose birthdays are prolonged festivals of worship and adoration? Have you met parents who trumpet their modest output, as if in raising two children they had tamed a herd of wild horses bare-handed? Do adults seem more child-like to you?

Have you seen children who don’t know how to play? Isn’t play the first of all human art forms? Have you ever walked with a baby into a nursing home? Have you noticed the pleasure, as if manna had fallen from the sky, or flowers bloomed in a desert?

Do you know anyone who decided too late to have children? Do they seem weighed down, as if they were standing on one side of a locked door and on the other were children they already knew?

Have you noticed there are fewer children? Does it seem to affect almost everything we are?

—————– Comments and Discussion ————————-

Brandon Frazer writes:

Lets not forget the surrogate children in the form of dogs you see so many young women with now. 

Great blog.  I’ll read it often.

Laura said:

And, cats. It’s very ironic because cats and dogs have become more expensive than children. A friend of mine spent $700 at the vet when her 15-pound dog had a stomach virus. He was on intravenous liquids for three days.

Thanks for reading.

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