> hope someday having children becomes the exception rather than the norm, because it doesn't feel like something that should be taken lightly.
Doesn't this seem extremely selfish?
The fewer mothers there are, the more children each mother will have to give birth to.
If one in two women decide to become mothers, then each mother needs to have four children. If one in four become mothers, then it means each mother needs to give birth to eight children.
Since you are depending on those children to work for you during retirement, you're essentially leeching off other people's children.
No wonder mothers no longer think they are sacrificing themselves for their children, but rather for a capitalist machine that requires more bodies.
I'm confused. Your second to last paragraph implies an anti-capitalist stance, and yet the rest of your post reiterates capitalist propaganda. All of your “has to”s/“needs to”s fall under this. Needs to for what? For the grass to grow and the birds to sing? No, it's for the capitalist machinery to chug along.
You also talk about selfishness but at same time are implying that you want children to work so that you can have your cushy retirement. Our society should just stick together in solidarity; to paint this as “leeching” is also capitalist propaganda.
Doesn't this seem extremely selfish?
The fewer mothers there are, the more children each mother will have to give birth to.
If one in two women decide to become mothers, then each mother needs to have four children. If one in four become mothers, then it means each mother needs to give birth to eight children.
Since you are depending on those children to work for you during retirement, you're essentially leeching off other people's children.
No wonder mothers no longer think they are sacrificing themselves for their children, but rather for a capitalist machine that requires more bodies.
Your hope is deeply dysfunctional.