Millennial women are saying no thanks to parenthood

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The baby maker in our family (me) is also the higher paid spouse. So one and done it was. The recession hit millennials right as they were getting out of grad school and college, not a coincidence. We got totally screwed. We did buy our first homes with super low interest rates though.

I wish we had been able to afford a second child back in 2012, but we were dual gs-12s and austerity policies meant no raises for years. Childcare for two was out of reach, there was no maternity leave, and no telework. Younger millennials may have had more choices but we really didn’t. I could have another now, but I’m 40 and my first is in middle school. No way. Planning for college now.

Assuming you mean the recession in the early 2000s, there was a similar length recession in the early 1990s which affected a lot of we Gen Xers’ job prospects when we graduated college. And the recessions of the early 2000s and late 2000s hit when many of us were deciding whether to have a child and/or more children. Again I am Gen X and most of my peers had their children born in that decade. So I don’t think the answer is nearly as simple as you are making out.

Sounds like they made an educated choice. So many times we’ve heard “only have children you can afford,” but then we do that, we’re called selfish? Can’t have it both ways.

Except you didn’t hear a bunch of Gen Xers whining that they couldn’t have children bc they were too expensive. Millenials expect more from life - they expected to hop over the early adulthood financially struggling phases that Gen Xers and even more so prior generations expected as par for the course. Case in point, see the thread with Millenials whining that their parents don’t give them regular childcare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The baby maker in our family (me) is also the higher paid spouse. So one and done it was. The recession hit millennials right as they were getting out of grad school and college, not a coincidence. We got totally screwed. We did buy our first homes with super low interest rates though.

I wish we had been able to afford a second child back in 2012, but we were dual gs-12s and austerity policies meant no raises for years. Childcare for two was out of reach, there was no maternity leave, and no telework. Younger millennials may have had more choices but we really didn’t. I could have another now, but I’m 40 and my first is in middle school. No way. Planning for college now.

Assuming you mean the recession in the early 2000s, there was a similar length recession in the early 1990s which affected a lot of we Gen Xers’ job prospects when we graduated college. And the recessions of the early 2000s and late 2000s hit when many of us were deciding whether to have a child and/or more children. Again I am Gen X and most of my peers had their children born in that decade. So I don’t think the answer is nearly as simple as you are making out.

Sounds like they made an educated choice. So many times we’ve heard “only have children you can afford,” but then we do that, we’re called selfish? Can’t have it both ways.

Except you didn’t hear a bunch of Gen Xers whining that they couldn’t have children bc they were too expensive. Millenials expect more from life - they expected to hop over the early adulthood financially struggling phases that Gen Xers and even more so prior generations expected as par for the course. Case in point, see the thread with Millenials whining that their parents don’t give them regular childcare.

I'm a younger Gen-X with 2 kids. It's been pretty well documented that the cost of college and childcare has risen faster than wages and inflation. Of course my boomer parents didn't think about affording college when they had us- that was a time when you could pay for college with a part-time minimum wage job. They didn't save for college and was a huge shock when the expected family contribution showed an amount they could never afford. I had loans and it was fine but costs have only risen even more since then. You take on too much debt at 18 and it can have ramifications well into your adulthood. We stopped at 2 for several reasons, including my age/fertility, but you better believe we thought about whether we could afford childcare and college for a 3rd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The baby maker in our family (me) is also the higher paid spouse. So one and done it was. The recession hit millennials right as they were getting out of grad school and college, not a coincidence. We got totally screwed. We did buy our first homes with super low interest rates though.

I wish we had been able to afford a second child back in 2012, but we were dual gs-12s and austerity policies meant no raises for years. Childcare for two was out of reach, there was no maternity leave, and no telework. Younger millennials may have had more choices but we really didn’t. I could have another now, but I’m 40 and my first is in middle school. No way. Planning for college now.

Assuming you mean the recession in the early 2000s, there was a similar length recession in the early 1990s which affected a lot of we Gen Xers’ job prospects when we graduated college. And the recessions of the early 2000s and late 2000s hit when many of us were deciding whether to have a child and/or more children. Again I am Gen X and most of my peers had their children born in that decade. So I don’t think the answer is nearly as simple as you are making out.

Genxer here... laid off twice - 1994 and 2002. No family help when we had kids (two).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The baby maker in our family (me) is also the higher paid spouse. So one and done it was. The recession hit millennials right as they were getting out of grad school and college, not a coincidence. We got totally screwed. We did buy our first homes with super low interest rates though.

I wish we had been able to afford a second child back in 2012, but we were dual gs-12s and austerity policies meant no raises for years. Childcare for two was out of reach, there was no maternity leave, and no telework. Younger millennials may have had more choices but we really didn’t. I could have another now, but I’m 40 and my first is in middle school. No way. Planning for college now.

Assuming you mean the recession in the early 2000s, there was a similar length recession in the early 1990s which affected a lot of we Gen Xers’ job prospects when we graduated college. And the recessions of the early 2000s and late 2000s hit when many of us were deciding whether to have a child and/or more children. Again I am Gen X and most of my peers had their children born in that decade. So I don’t think the answer is nearly as simple as you are making out.

Sounds like they made an educated choice. So many times we’ve heard “only have children you can afford,” but then we do that, we’re called selfish? Can’t have it both ways.

Except you didn’t hear a bunch of Gen Xers whining that they couldn’t have children bc they were too expensive. Millenials expect more from life - they expected to hop over the early adulthood financially struggling phases that Gen Xers and even more so prior generations expected as par for the course. Case in point, see the thread with Millenials whining that their parents don’t give them regular childcare.

I'm Gen-X but this makes me snort a bit. Millennials are delaying things like buying a home and having kids even more than previous generations (don't take my word for, it, look at the data), so they are certainly getting their years of struggle in. Guess they aren't suffering enough for your liking though?