So, it’s official. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is quitting to spend more time with her children. It’s also official that Gen Z is deciding not to have babies, writes Rachel Weatherall.
And who can blame them! Aside from the stratospheric cost of raising children, the younger generations have watched their parents, especially their mothers, absolutely destroyed living up to the impossible ideals hoisted on them by modern society, and they’re determined not to make the same mistakes.
I am a retired female Public Relations professional in my 60s. I am childless and absolutely thankful for that. I do not, and never did, subscribe to those who condemn childlessness as being somehow selfish and unfulfilling.
Early in my career I watched women of my generation (the boomers) swallow the have-it-all super woman narrative touted by feel-good movies and magazines. They went to Uni and began climbing up the greasy pole of success…all the while attempting to run a home, a husband and children. And now the catastrophic fall out is coming home to roost. The exhaustion, the divorce, the stress-related illnesses, single parenthood, the issues with children from broken homes; the list is ever expanding.
Being in the professional arena always meant long days, but before the digital tsunami there was a cutoff point. Now it seems that everyone is accessible 24/7 – even on holidays.
Most of my ’boomer’ friends are divorced at least once, some twice. Over 50% of marriages now end in divorce. Add to that sombre statistic that around 90% of divorced women with small children will end up raising those youngsters as a single parent. A boomer friend of mine who has two children and a full-time job asked her husband to get up early and help get the children and the house sorted before going to their respective jobs.
He refused and said he needed all the sleep he could get for his demanding career! I’m not trying to bash the masculine sex here, but another boomer myth that the ‘new man’ would don an apron and pick up 50% of the homemaking tasks never materialised. As it stands women still shoulder the bulk of the household and child rearing chores.
I’m not here to diss anyone who really wants to bear children. What I am saying is that the younger generations are waking up to the stark reality of modern society which has changed massively in the last few decades. Take it from me who is looking back over a 35-year career. Think long and hard about having children.
And what happened to my friend whose husband wouldn’t get out of bed to help with the kids? She’s divorced and confided to me that “in my next life, I’ll get a cat!”
