To think pronatalists are on to something?

Just read that article. Those poor kids going around with iPads around their necks. They won’t even heat the House for them.

I just read this article and came straight onto Mumsnet to see what people had to say. I DID NOT EXPECT that the hot take would be - ooh yeah something to consider in all this ladies.

for anyone who hasn’t read the article (spoilers….) dad smacks a small kid in the face in front of a journalist and thinks nothing of it. I don’t have a GREAT deal of confidence the screening the did to select embryos for intelligence is going to make up for the shit parenting.

So you want everyone to be breeding multiple kids just to look after and fund the care of the growing elderly population? No thanks…

Anyway, AI will take over much of the human care work, as well as many many other jobs. There is very little that can’t be done better by a robot, so actually a massive decline in the human population will be inevitable when you factor in global environmental catastrophes, water shortages, forest fires, declining soil fertility. We reached the earths caring capacity a few Billion people ago, and nature will put things right one way or another.

Don't be absurd. Just because we're no longer on a population explosion pathway doesn't equate to extinction.

The population will be reduced to a more sustainable level until we figure out how to get off this planet and colonise others, with more resources.

BTW, something similar already happened at least once, with black death and discovery of Americas. We're hardly extinction now, aren't we?

Dear me!

The population should be declining. It's a sign of rising living standards AS WELL AS increasing cost of living. There is simply no reason for human society to exist if we're just going to mindlessly procreate and work til death like animals.

Immigration is just kicking the can down the road.

That said, I read a think-tank piece saying that increased pay and cheaper childcare wasn't increasing childbirth rates. But they missed out the biggy IMO. More TIME.

If there were a standard 25-30h working week for EVERYONE, then working age people would be able to keep themselves healthier (exercise and better food), care for their families better (old and young).

It's absolutely ridiculous that we are working the hours we do and expected to outsource everything that just a few decades ago was done by 50% of the population.

Cut working hours. It's that simple.

Pyramid schemes don't work.

Well, the current elderly can't have their cake and eat it and no amount off shouting ageism and throwing your toys out of the pram can fix that.

Were they interviewed direct from Gilead?

They are atheist. Kind of a different breed of pronatalist

I came to this thread after reading the one where the poster wanted schools to offer full time hours to help working parents. She got shot down because schools are stretched as it is.
People aren’t having kids because they can’t afford to, women don’t want to or can’t take time out of their careers, and the services just aren’t there to help. Full time Nursery costs Over £10k per year and there’s still the problem of what to do with kids after school if both parents are working.

Western society can’t expect women to have children and work, without putting the systems in place in help them. Most women will chose what works for them/their relationship.

Immigration isn’t the answer, because time and again studies show that immigrants quickly match the native birth rate. Ie immigrants from cohntries like Nigeria to the uk quickly start to have 1 or 2 children. Then, you end up rapidly with the need to bring in even MORE people, who then have fewer children, and bring in even MORE. What then? If we are currently running at 700k immigrants a year, what would we end up with? 2 million a year? Not remotely feasible

Were they interviewed direct from Gilead?

This. Especially point number 3.

Due to house prices and crap work prospects in some areas of the UK many people of childbearing age now live a long way from their families. There are very few people with a "village" to help them. Child care is extortionate and some areas as child care deserts.

Nice ageist rant, well done. Slow 👏🏻

1. There's too many people on the planet as it is, we need to downsize

1. Replacement rate is 2.1

1. Elderly should have thought about that when they chucked kids out at 16/18, though cruises were more important than grandkids and chose to inflate house prices with second home ownership and landlordship to plump up the nest egg. Now use the money you accumulated to pay for care. You know, cutting the cloth accordingly and you made your bed tropes that were trotted out when grandkids were concerned.

NB: not in the slightest in favour of parenting on expense of anyone else, nursery has been lined up and no financial help expected from either grandparents here. But too often you read on here about grandparents too lazy to mind a grandchild while daughter is in labour with the next one, but expecting 24/7 care in last few years to avoid paying for carers.

There's 8 billion people in the world so really we don't have a population shortage problem, we have a "everyone's too bloody worried about letting outsiders in" problem

Changing the demographics of your country will change its character. Just ask the Gazans about it.

Good god, no it wouldn’t. You’d rather just another desolate planet like all the others in the solar system?

Spot on.

Agree

Humanity dying out would be the best thing for the planet.