RileyDad
Head Mucky-Muck
Joined: 04 Aug 2006
Posts: 1282
Location: Occupied Mississippi
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 Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 5:45 pm Post subject: Children - Blessing or Curse ? |
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James McDonald forwarded this to the "Call of the Patriarch's list . . . someone from his church found it in "Whirled" Magazine . . .
God says: "Children are like arrows, blessed is he who's quiver is full of them"
Man says : "To heck with more children, give me stuff"
| Quote: | This is why our message of "Family Reformation" is so important.
...from World magazine...
Unfocused families
Changing attitudes about children could have major economic consequences | Timothy Lamer
Sometimes the most important economic stories do not make it into the business sections of major newspapers.
A late June report from the Pew Research Center was one such story. Pew found that only 41 percent of Americans now view having children as "very important" to a successful marriage, down from 65 percent in 1990.
Faithfulness, at 93 percent, topped the list of key marriage ingredients, followed by happy sexual relationships at 70 percent. But even sharing household chores (at 62 percent) and earning an "adequate" income (at 53 percent) beat out having children. Out of nine options given, having children came in eighth. Only the importance of spouses agreeing on politics drew less support.
The social consequences of this shift in attitudes could be seismic, affecting everything from the debate over same-sex marriage to the content of popular entertainment. "The popular culture is increasingly oriented to fulfilling the X-rated fantasies and desires of adults," argues Barbara Dafoe Whitehead in a report for the National Marriage Project. "Child-rearing values—sacrifice, stability, dependability, maturity—seem stale and musty by comparison."
But the economic consequences are not small, either, and they did not receive much attention. Worse news, for example, could hardly be imagined for Medicare and Social Security, programs that were already staggering under a drop in fertility rates during the 1960s and 1970s. U.S. fertility rates bounced back slightly in the 1980s and 1990s and are now at about replacement level (2.1 live births per woman). But if the Pew survey portends a return to lower fertility rates, then the entitlements crisis in coming decades will be worse than advertised.
Demographers have pointed to other potential economic challenges stemming from low fertility: labor shortages, fewer buyers in the future to prop up stock and real estate prices, a dearth of customers for businesses. "The commerce of modern nations may slip the trap of the New Demography," writes Ben J. Wattenberg, "but we should not delude ourselves: the trap is there, and it may well be serious."
And if Pew has spotted a long-term trend in attitudes toward children, the trap may get more serious by the year.
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Bryan J. Evans
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DeoLexRex
The history of Christianity is a series of victories, described and disguised as disasters. Beginning with the cross... -- Herb Titus |
(The quote from Herb Titus is pretty awesome, too.)
_________________
P. Leslie Riley, Jr.
Sinner saved by Grace -- Husband to Christy - Dad to Emily(20 ); Trey(18 ); Ellen (16 ); Jacob (15 ); Hannah (13 ); Ben (11 ); Sarah (9 ); Abby Grace (with the Saviour); Annie Lou ( 6 ); Mercy (2 ) & Josiah |
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