Continues from Questioning The Societal Norm of Parenthood Part 1b
In the previous article, I talked about how people fall victim to the societal norm of having kids.
In addition, I came across an interesting article and I want to expound upon that to add a deeper layer to this Washington Post article.
The headline is, “Americans are having fewer kids but child free people are still stigmatized“, and it discusses how Americans are having fewer kids and the U.S. fertility rate is at an all-time low.
More singles and couples are either delaying the consideration of having kids. Or they’re just foregoing the decision and having a childfree relationship instead.
In the article, Leslie Nardo (a psychologist) who talked about how young people see parenthood as a moral obligation rather than a personal choice. Consequently, they feel like they have to do it or else they’ll end up like the stigmatized, childfree people.
And as we think about that, many societies in the world typically have a herd mentality. Very few people lead. The majority follow the societal norm.
So, if their peers have kids, they’ll say “it’s time for us to have some kids” or even your parents will ask “When are you going to give us some grandchildren?”
Those are a few examples of peer pressure that people face. And unfortunately some of them fall victim to it. But once they have these kids, they realize that this isn’t what they really wanted.
Now, they have to put their life on hold for 18 years to make those kids a priority. Unfortunately, life is temporal and the one certain thing is death. Since we’re all going to die, do you want to give away 18 years of your life?
There is beauty in parenthood. So, I’m not condemning that, but I’m talking about people forced to do something.
You can make the argument that no one can force you to do something. However, no one should have to deal with that overwhelming peer pressure either.
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