This week in class, we discussed the trends in today's society having to deal with families. It was interesting to take a look at this because being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, our focus is on families and we strive to build up strong families.
"We know that activity in the Church centers in the family. Wherever members are in the world, they should establish a family where children are welcome and treasured as 'an heritage of the Lord' (Psalm 127:3). A worthy Latter-day Saint family is a standard to the world."
- Elder Boyd K. Packer
With the heightened birth rates during the Baby Boom, it had expected that within the years, millions of people would starve to death and there would be no resources available. However, years later we are not seeing these effects and the predictions from the Baby Boom are not supported anymore. I find it interesting that through this time there were people being looked down on for having anymore than three kids because having this many more people on the planet would result in ruining the planet.
PERSONAL OPINION
In my personal opinion, it seems bizarre that 1) people feel the need to be involved in other peoples business on how many kids they want and 2) that 3 children seemed like too many. I think that the number of children a couple wants is entirely their decision and that it isn't anyone's place to judge them for what they want or to look at them differently. If the Baby Boom hasn't led to the predictions once thought, then the chances of those happening with this generation is not likely. I also think that 3 children doesn't seem like a crazy amount, there are five children in my family and most of my extended families all have at least that many. For many families that are members of my church, that is normal- we are used to having many children and coming from big families. Obviously, everyone has their own viewpoints but I don't believe anyone has a reason to judge another person for the children they have or want. I can't imagine life without a big family but that's how I was raised, but I also have no reason to tell others that a smaller family isn't right to have because that's their preference.
TRENDS
Looking at the trends in the world today it's fascinating to see the things increasing but also what is decreasing and to discus why that may be.
Trends we are seeing in the world:
> Pre-marital sex is increasing
> Living alone is increasing
> Cohabitation is increasing
> The age of marriage is older
> Age of getting pregnant is older
> Birth rates decreasing
Although I could go into reasons for all of these, I'm just going to touch on a couple that I think are big right now. These are all my personal beliefs after a discussion about them so just take is as you want!
I believe that cohabitation is increasing because the younger generation is becoming more afraid of commitment. It's easier to live together and not be married because there doesn't have to be strings attached and if things don't work out, they move out instead of working out their marriage. I think that because cohabitation is increasing, pre-marital sex is increasing because they are already living together even if they're not married so chances that they sleep together goes up.
It also seems like more people are wanting to travel and do things on their own before starting a family because then you have more expenses and can't afford to do everything with more family members. This leads to people getting married at an older age after they have lived their life and then starting a family and getting pregnant at an older age.
Here's a website that we looked at that had to do with family structures and the outcomes for children. I found them all to be super interesting so I encourage everyone to take a look and pick some of the different outcomes for the relationships.
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