When someone close to you is having a hard time, the least you can do is listen to them and validate their feelings.
But when Reddit user u/AdSpecialist6598 realized what their friend was going through, they were so furious that they thought the platform's r/antiwork community needs to hear about it, too.
The Redditor always viewed their buddy as a family man, and it's something he would like for himself as well, however, the man simply can't afford to have one.
u/AdSpecialist6598 admitted they really feel for him but added that the rage only grows whenever they hear people refusing to believe that a high-spirited individual cannot grow their household because of financial troubles. You know, because obviously only lazy members of society are short on money.
When this person asked their buddy why isn't he starting a family, the man said it's because he can't afford one
Image credits: Patricia Prudente (not the actual photo)
And apparently, many people refuse to believe that anyone who's a hard worker can end up in such a situation
Image credits: Karolina Grabowska (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Loume Visser (not the actual photo)
Image credits: AdSpecialist6598
This post is a clear illustration of the fact that more young Americans are planning to not have children
Image credits: Văn Thắng (not the actual photo)
In 2021, the Pew Research Center found that 44% of nonparents between 18 to 49 aren't planning to start families — a jump of 7 percentage points from three years earlier.
Among parents and non-parents alike, men and women are virtually equally likely to say they will probably not have kids (or more kids) in the future, but as somewhat expected, adults in their 40s are way more likely than younger ones to claim this.
Some 85% of non-parents 40 to 49 say this statement is true, compared with 37% of those under 40. And while 91% of older parents say they probably won't have more kids, 60% of younger parents say the same.
When it comes to the actual reasons behind their decision, things get a little blurry. 56% of non-parents younger than 50 who say it's unlikely they will have children someday say it's because they just don't want to have kids.
However, among childless adults who said their choice was influenced by something else, money was one of the biggest factors, with 19% saying it's due to medical reasons, 17% saying it's for financial reasons, and 15% saying it’s because they do not have a partner.
And the cost of this decision is one of the biggest reasons behind it
Image credits: Tierra Mallorca (not the actual photo)
Americans who are thinking about starting a family have one important figure to consider: the cost of raising a child from birth to age 17 will set them back by about $310,000.
That's according to a 2022 analysis from the Brookings Institution, which analyzed the Department of Agriculture's 2015 estimate for the cost of raising a child and ran the numbers to account for inflation since then. Since 2020 alone, the higher pace of inflation has added as much as $26,000 to the cost of raising a child, according to the research.
The findings came amid a long-term trend of declining birthrates: the number of births in the U.S. dropped in 2020 to their lowest level since 1979. Advocates have pointed to a lack of family-friendly policies such as paid family leave. In fact, the country is the only developed nation without such a program. The Biden Administration sought to expand the Child Tax Credit and provide more support for childcare costs, but those plans fizzled with the failure of the Build Back Better Act.
The discussion that followed the publication of the story shows that it might be more common than we think
