To think France's plan to write to every 29 year old reminding them to breed is patronising nonsense??

I intend to do things all the time, and then forget to do them.

When you are you in your late 20s, it's still really hard to believe that any kind of ageing will happen to you.

Making decisions around timing of kids vs career is also really tricky. And when people around you keep saying "so and so had a kid at 42", it gives you a bit of false sense of security.

If egg freezing had been available and reliable when I was in my late 20s, I would probably have an extra child. France's offer won't work for everyone, but it would have worked for me.

Nope - it’s not a form of forgetting. Words have meaningsz

If you are not in a position to have them you are not in a position to have them. Or planning it as something to do but in future equally does not mean forgetting.

We don't want an increasing population, but the world's population will start to drop in a few decades. Some drop isn't a bad thing, but a preciptious drop could be very problematic.

You may be right @OonaStubbs. AI isn’t a good substitute for jobs that require empathy or creativity though -or dealing with unpredictable situations. So certain roles will still be open.

Vulnerable people born into a shrinking society is worrying. A child with additional needs or MH problems, for example.

It is a form of forgetting, living for the moment with short term thinking.

AI will do most jobs and many of the babies being born today will never work. Which is why we need highly skilled, highly educated people to have more babies because statistically the children of highly skilled, highly educated people are much more likely to go on to become highly skilled and highly educated themselves and they can go on to do highly skilled, highly paid jobs that contribute taxes that keep the country running.

I call BS. No one is forced to have a gynaecological examination to get married. All my friends are married and not one, not a single one had to do a medical exam

Not being in a position to have them is not the same as forgetting to have them. Saying “one day” is clearly not forgetting.

I never “forgot”. I just was never in a position to have them.

So that’s that.

In some senses, yes. For quite a few people ‘one day’ turns into too many days and then it’s too late.

Thanks for the link.

God some people are stupid. Do they think those of us without children simply “forgot” to have them.

I don't care if it's part of a plan to put Frenchwomen on Mars

It's bullshit nonsense

"dear 29 year old we've noticed you're not very interested in nappies and sleep deprivation! Did you know your time to experience this amazing deal is limited?? What's that you say yes you did because you're capable of reading hence your ability to read this letter?"

And do you think it's a bad thing if such people don't perpetuate their genius?

Birth rates among immigrants drop to national average within generation or so. Birth rates are dropping rapidly worldwide.

Currently, countries like the UK rely on plundering poorer countries for their working age, well educated, amd well off citizens. Like yet another resource to be mined.

Im not sure what people don’t understand. Smaller populations are a good thing but smaller ageing ones not so much. Here in the UK for example the state pension & NHS model doesn’t work with the changing demographics & then you have the issue that a largely older base will vote for policies that benefit them so any reform becomes impossible.

I don't think it is a problem. AI and Dignitas surely the way forward. I don't want to end up in a care home and/or unable to look after myself. Also, people having children is no guarantee of a workforce in the future, millions of perfectly able young people aren't working.

Erm, yes you can have kids at 42. That's your choice and fertility wise it can work and career and finances wise it definitely does.

Because if people walk away from their elderly parents then who is going to care for them? Will we just leave them all enmasse in terrible situations or do you expect the state to step in? This costs money hence taxes will need to rise a lot.

I have no idea why tax is relevant to what I said.

The reality is we can all walk away from our parents and should be able to.
Not everybody has the money or time to support elderly parents and not all parents will deserve.

The reality is most people who can care for parents are doing so but it should be a personal decision not government imposed unless the government can somehow assist people in finding the time and money.

I find this perspective interesting. What do you think about paying extortionate taxes then?

Basically the way I see it is that society is still structured in a way where ultimately family takes the hit for their vulnerable dependents. It's an inbuilt assumption when it comes to our taxation models and future projections. If all of us can basically walk away from our elderly parents, disabled relatives or children then where does that leave us? Why should I sacrifice my money/time/energy when you don't have to? Can the state though afford to care for all our elderly relative or all of us when we get old without any family support at all? I don't think it can. Not in the way that most people would view as decent and humane.

I genuinely don’t understand what you think has changed so much for falling birth rates not to be a problem?

Can we have a source for that, please?

Well maybe we need to change how.men and society treat women. They are are the sex that carries children for 9 months gives birth to them and are generally the ones primarily responsible for keeping children alive in their infancy ( and beyond). This makes them very vulnerable physically and economically. All of this while being treated appalling with little support or even respect for the role, from the government, other members of society or even in many cases from the fathers.

Yes of course having children is rewarding for many many women, but it is clear that in the context of a human society across the world that treats vulnerable members appalling that reward is obviously not enough for most women to offset the vulnerability, when they have a choice. You just have to look at the birth rates in countries across the globe when birth control becomes widely available

I don't know the answer but I strongly fear that women are in for a tough time as countries face steeply falling birth rates at a time whwn more and more authoritarian governments are coming to power. To be fair this has pretty much always been the case for women in the countries that never donned the veneer of equal rights for women

Equal rights for women only works in a pragmatic sense if we accept that making a choice to be a mother is more than an individual choice, it has broader consequences. It should therefore confer real societal advantage interms of real respect for the importance of the work along with economic support.

That means accepting that individual women who are more fertile may end up having economically better liveon and having more respect on aversge than if they are not . I know many will dislike that idea but I see no difference beteen being advantaged for being female and fertile or being white, male and born into money. Both are accidents of birth.

The alternative is trying to directly control women's fertility by force and coercion, which many govwenmwnts will prefer to try as simpler.

Writing to women to remind them of thier fertility window will be the the least of it,I am afraid