“Check your childlessness privilege.”

Lyman Stone, writing for Vox, adds* his voice to others suggesting that we are having too few children in the United States.

He looks at polling data to show that while the Total Fertility Rate is now only about 1.8, the number of children desired is much higher. He explains why this shortfall is bad for our society, and proposes some fixes (all interesting) but this paragraph brought a grin to my face:

If getting ahead in your industry requires happy-hour drinks three nights a week, that’s unfriendly to families and may be preventing your female colleagues from having the family they want. Check your childlessness privilege. If you never volunteer to babysit your friends’ kids, but expect to benefit from their Social Security taxes, you’re a societal free-rider.

I would have never thought to say this, honestly.**  There are many other rewards to having larger-than-replacement families, but this Vox article does raise some points we don’t often hear.  Lyman Stone, “The US needs more babies, more immigrants, and more integration,” Vox (Nov. 10, 2017) [link].

Worth reading.

*I guess he “added his voice,” but I did not see the article at the time.

**He also proposed special parking privileges for minivans, but that proposal is way too late for us.