194 - America's Childless Future Part 1 - Lost Grandparents
Half of all adults say they can’t have children… So what happens to the boomers who realize they’ll never have grandkids?
This week we confront one of the most emotionally charged topics facing America’s aging population: the coming wave of “forever empty nesters.” Inspired by a viral New York Times article, The Unspoken Grief of Never Becoming a Grandparent, we explore the profound generational divide around childbirth, parenting, and economic survival. While millions of Boomers quietly mourn the grandkids they’ll never meet, younger generations are too busy surviving debt, housing costs, and a crumbling job market to start families of their own.
In Part 1 of this two-part series, we take on the myths and the moral panic surrounding America's falling birthrate. Are Millennials and Gen Z really too selfish or “soft” to have kids? Or is it simply no longer economically possible? And what happens to America when the schools start to empty out, and family reunions start to look like BINGO night at the retirement home?
Links:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/11/well/family/grandparent-grandchild-childfree.html
https://www.buzzfeed.com/kelseyborresen/parents-not-having-kids-grandparent-grief
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ts7oWw_Ebs&ab_channel=SaturdayNightLive
https://www.statista.com/statistics/999919/share-people-registered-vote-age/
https://www.cbpp.org/research/a-punishing-decade-for-school-funding
https://edlawcenter.org/research/600-billion-lost/
https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R45184
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2024/20240525.htm