Week 1: How are recent family trends impacting us?

This week in my Family Relations class we discussed societal trends in the family. A lot of these trends correlate with each other such as the age at first marriage, cohabitation, employed mothers, people living alone, intimacy before marriage, children born outside of marriage, household size, birthrates, and divorce rates. Not all of these trends are necessarily bad, however, it leaves one to raise questions about the future of traditional forms of marriage and family. Despite whether you are religious or not, there is data and research that proves that the ideal setting for a child to be raised in, is a house with both a mother and a father. One of the big trends we focused on was the decrease in birth rates. How many of you remember the musical Saturday's Warrior? When I was little I 
remember my parents would play the soundtrack on the way to church. To be honest I actually love 
some of the songs despite the cheesiness. There is a song, from it called zero population:

"Every day the world is getting smaller by far,

Bursting at the seams.  What can we do?
Zero population is the answer, my friend.
Without it, the rest of us are doomed.

Who can survive?  Who can survive?
Not one of us will be alive.
Who can be strong?  Who can be strong
When Mother Earth is gone...?

Every day the food supply is shrinking away,
With starvation at your door.  What can we do?
Ooh, licensing the children is the answer, my friend.
Without it, the rest of us are through.

Tragedy, the oil is depleting away.
Every baby makes it last a shorter time.
Legalized abortion is the answer, my friend.
Without it, there is no peace of mind."

During the late 1940s and 1960's the world experienced "The biggest, boomiest boom ever known in history"-Sylvia Porter.
The term "baby boom" stuck as did our mindset that populations would always continue to grow at an exponential rate.
Just like the song above, many people still believe that having more children is not all good for the world. In 1968 Paul Ehrlich
published a book titled, The Population Bomb making a huge impact on people's belief that overpopulation is inevitable and will
cause environmental degradation and mass starvation. However, research has proven this is not the case.

There are 3 terms we must understand:

1. Population-Total of people living in an area

2. Birth rate-Births per thousand people in a population during a year

3. Fertility rate-Average number of children born over the lifetime of the average women.

Many people thought that women were having 6-7 children during the baby boom, when in fact the 
fertility rate peaked at 3.7 children per women in the US. By the 1970s we already started to see a 
massive drop in fertility rates all over the world. This is largely due to an increase in prosperity, the 
women's revolution, the sexual revolution, and the divorce revolution. Yes population has increased 
over time, but that is because of the advance in medicines to help people live longer. In most
countries today we are seeing fertility rates drop below 2.13, which is considered the replacement
fertility rate. If rates are below this then populations will eventually decline. With a replacement rate of
1%, a million people will be replaced by one person in just 20 generations. So why is this bad?

-If human capital decreases, so will economic growth. Maintaining our current standard of life will require higher levels of education and work.

-Less sources for new ideas and innovation

-Less extended families

-Less workers than retirees, which will result in higher taxes

And these are just a few of the negative aspects of declining populations. From an economic standpoint, this can be a devasting in the long run. Our culture today has become more focused on individualism and personal happiness than family life. There can be a lot of fear when it comes to starting a family. We see this in the trend of the rising age at first marriage. For women the average age is 28 and 30 for men. Many people not only fear to add to overpopulation but also fear divorce, not being able to provide for a family, repeating mistakes of past generations, not being to pursue higher education and job opportunities, and just simply the fear of not being able to raise a successful family. 
As we can see, if we strengthen the family, we strengthen the economy. I strongly believe in the family. It is in families that our basic needs and more are met. From a religious standpoint in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we know the Plan of Salvation was created for families.

President Russell M. Nelson has reminded us, “In God’s eternal plan, salvation is an individual matter; [but] exaltation is a family matter.”

 “I think it is significant that Jesus loved these little ones who so recently had left the preexistence to come to earth. Children then and children now bless our lives, kindle our love, and prompt our good deeds. Is it any wonder that the poet Wordsworth speaks thus of our birth: ‘Trailing clouds of glory do we come/From God, who is our home. Most of these little ones come to parents who eagerly await their arrival, mothers and fathers who rejoice to be a part of that miracle we call birth. No sacrifice is too great, no pain too severe, no waiting too long. . . .It is our solemn duty, our precious privilege—even our sacred opportunity—to welcome to our homes and to our hearts the children who grace our lives.”-President Monson

Now I'm not saying we all need to go and have 10 kids, but we shouldn't let fears impact our decision on the size of our families:)

What are ways you have been able to promote and protect the family, especially your own family?