Family-A target of the enemy

Question: What factors contribute to demographic decline?

Answer:
A number of social trends of the post-war era have converged to create a perfect storm for Demographic Winter.

Men and women are delaying marriage, making it less likely they’ll have more than one or two children. Today in the West, almost one in two marriages ends in divorce. The children of divorce are less likely to marry and form families themselves.
More married women are putting off having children for careers. After 35, it becomes progressively harder for women to conceive.

The news and entertainment media tell young adults that satisfaction comes from careers, romance, travel and “personal growth” – not from having children. It’s rare that Hollywood even portrays large families (today, more than 2 children). The culture’s message is live-for-moment and live primarily for yourself, with no sense of obligation to generations past or concern for posterity.

The growth of cohabitation also has an impact. (In Scandinavia, almost as many couples are living together as married.) Cohabitation is not conducive to childbearing or childrearing.

For the past 20 to 30 years, children have been taught that over-population (the so-called population bomb) will wreck havoc on the environment and economic development. Not surprisingly, children thus indoctrinated frequently choose to have fewer children when they reach maturity.

Religious observance has been shown to correlate with higher birthrates. The increasing secularization of Western societies has been accompanied by lower birthrates.

Thus, every aspect of modernity works against family life and in favor of singleness and small families or voluntary childlessness.

http://www.demographicwinter.com/

Babies and Birthdays

The past couple of weeks we have been involved in celebrations of life. Our dear friends Joel and Jill hosted a birthday party for their grandson Jackson to celebrate his 1st birthday on February 18th. The party was held on February 23rd which happens to be Jill's birthday. The party theme was "Cars" Jackson had taken a nap and woke up in a mellow mood. He was pretty quiet throughout the party. He enjoyed a cupcake with blue frosting while wearing his Birthday Prince Crown. Great grandma Jan held Jackson for a photo....He's very used to being held and rocked and cared for by this lady: Grandma. Mom Joyy read the cards while Auntie Jana assisted in unwrapping the gifts. Jill opened a few gifts as well. Her family gave her an ipod shuffle. She was delighted and looking forward to learning how to use it. Jared and the fam went to lunch at Peonys on Tuesday and to Ponte Winery on Sunday....The much anticipated birth of Lauren and Tim's niece happened on February 22nd. Abigail (Abbie) Ruth joined her Mom , Dad and brother Elijah for a family picture. I got to go visit her on her 5th day of life and found her to be sweet, snuggly, and absolutely adorable! There is nothing to compare with holding a new little life in your arms.