Fertility Panic

The first half of my life was filled with people panicking about the POPULATION BOOM and the second half has been filled with people panicking about decline in birth rates, though really it's the same panic: that THOSE people are breeding too much relative to "us."

Rather than generating a panic about birthrates, chiding parents for being honest about their struggles or criticizing those who opt not to have kids, it makes sense to plan for a future in which we continue, in our country, to be below replacement, while still pushing for pro-family policies like universal paid parental leave, because that’s the humane thing to do for parents and children. That’s much more difficult than complaining about childless cat ladies, but it’s smarter policy. It addresses the real way we live now rather than hearkening back to a version of the past that never really existed.