I am 68 years old and have 3 adult children. I always wanted to be a mother. I didn't give much thought to what the world was going to be like in 20 or 40 years; I just wanted babies. If God hadn't given women the urge to have babies, the human race would have vanished a long time ago. Yes, raising children is expensive in many ways, and there's no guarantee they will turn out the way we hoped they would.
Nobody knows what they are doing when they become a parent. I read lots of books on the subject while I was pregnant, but nothing really prepares a person for the reality of 24/7 responsibility for a helpless baby. So we learn as we go. That's the way it has always been. If we are lucky, we have family and/or good friends around to support us and answer our thousands of questions. I don't know why today's young people are afraid to dive in and go for it. Perhaps they think they can't do it "right", so they won't even try. But there's more than one right way to go about parenting. End of ramble.
I think you hit the nail on the head there, to be honest. It seems these newer generations are a lot more risk-averse and it seems to be related to their increased infantilization. There's a lot of talk I've heard about young people being afraid to take risks in their jobs and social lives without the go-ahead from "a grown-up", not recognizing themselves as such, and I imagine it ties into this childlessness epidemic also.
I like your comment a lot! I see it the same. It's why I'm not too crazy on this whole trend of blaming parents for not being perfect - parents are really just people doing the best they can, no? Some of them. And as long as you can know your folks did that, you should be happy, I feel.
Thanks for this lovely input! :)
I am glad you liked my ramble!