#aging #demographics #BeingYoung #BeingOld #children #families
China, Japan and other countries are seeing their populations age.
The U.S. is also heading in that direction.
How and why is this happening? People are getting old and dying, but fewer young people are having children to make up for it.
There are all kinds of blame for this to go around. China, for example, once had a one-child policy to control overpopulation, as many of its baby girls were sent elsewhere for adoption.
That policy apparently is now backfiring on the Chinese.
In the U.S. and other developed countries, more young people are putting off having children, or even getting married.
The largest percentage of college students in the U.S. is women, implying that women suddenly are more interested in establishing careers than motherhood.
There are reasons for this. First, many marriages do not last, and women do not want to be left with no way to make a living if a marriage fails.
Second, if a marriage survives, or, even, thrives, two incomes are needed to build a decent life.
Even with two incomes, young people are paying a lot more for necessities than their parents or grandparents did.
Housing, no matter where it is, is in short supply and is expensive. Food costs a lot more than it once did. Consider how the price of eggs affected the last presidential election.
So, being a young person in his or her 20s just beginning adulthood is not necessarily an enviable place. These circumstances have older people celebrating that they are old.
The biggest family expense may be children. They need to be fed, clothed, kept healthy and educated. Even in countries in which the government helps considerably with those expenses, it’s still difficult for young people to have and support families.
In countries in which the government declines to provide sufficient help to families, the challenge is much more difficult.
When both parents work, children need to be cared for. Such childcare often goes unsubsidized, so the parents decide whether one of their jobs is worth that expense. If the answer is no, they are likely to put off having children or quit a job and suffer financially.
Longing for past eras, in which partners played specific family roles, will not bring back those old days.
In short, countries are aging because it is difficult to be young today. If governments want their demographics to improve, they must take action to help young families. It’s great to give young people the freedom to create their own lives, but, today, more often than not, they can’t do it without help.
Moms and dads are finding their financial ties to their children last well into adulthood. This may prevent some from living out their elder years the way they would like.
When mom and dad are gone, their children may miss that support.
So, countries will continue to age. They will continue to struggle finding young workers. They’ll continue to see many family units with only one or two people, and no or few children.
If it’s seen as a problem now, time will only make it worse unless some intervention occurs.
Trying to bring back life from decades past is not a solution. Governments will have to adjust policies to make and grow young families.
If they don’t, the old will continue to age and the young will continue to struggle.
Peter
Tag Archives: families
HOLIDAY TRAVEL: THINK BEFORE YOU GO
#HolidayTravel #FamilyGatherings #traffic #AirTravel #families
This, and every holiday season, is a time for joy, celebration and reflections of faith.
It’s also a time for gifts, parties and family gatherings.
Are you looking forward to your family gathering?
Families can be wonderful, loving, inspiring and encouraging.
They can also be fraught with tension, animosity and jealousy.
If you have an extended family in which everyone not only gets along, but also is genuinely happy to be among one another, consider yourself truly blessed. Not all families are like that.
There is nothing worse this time of year than to make a big sacrifice to get somewhere for a family gathering, and either not want to be there or not have a good time.
As you ponder whether to go to a family gathering, consider what you might have to do to get there. Will you have to sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic, or drive through hazardous winter conditions, that extend a trip for hours more than it should take? Will you have to negotiate a crowded airport, complete with multiple contagions, risk flight cancellations because of weather or other reasons and wind up not getting there in time for the festivities?
And, as you consider whether to make the trek, do you hear things like: “so-and-so will be so disappointed if you don’t come.” Or, “this may be so-and-so’s last Christmas (or Hanukkah).”
Those guilt trips are merely that because, in some cases, the so-and-so who would be disappointed if you didn’t come may simply give you a hug when you arrive and when you leave, but not talk to you very much the rest of the time – unless, of course, to tell you how he or she doesn’t like, or disapproves of, something in your life.
By all means, if you have an overwhelming sense of obligation that you can’t shake, make the trip.
Holiday family gatherings became customary when everyone in the family lived near each other. As members of the family – usually the younger ones who grow up – move away, they become more complicated. With all the advances in travel over the decades, traveling today can be difficult, not to mention exhausting and frustrating. Holidays are supposed to be fun and celebratory. Often, they are stressful and lead to hurt feelings, arguments etc.
Political polarization within families can add to the tension. The TV commercial in which a holiday dinner leads to a physical fight is not necessarily overdramatic.
Yes, all of us are born into a family. We should cherish where we came from. But, we don’t necessarily have to be obligated to all members of that family.
A good rule of thumb is: if you KNOW you will enjoy yourself at a holiday family gathering, make the effort to go.
Or, if you really want to see some, if not necessarily all, members of the family, try to get there.
But if you know a trip to a family gathering will be stressful, and getting there will be a big sacrifice for you, then you may want to rethink making the trip.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go. But, if you do, go having weighed all the considerations.
Sometimes we view these occasions as automatic. They don’t have to be. You have choices, even during the holidays. Try to celebrate wherever you will be the happiest.
The best of holidays to all.
Peter