>From behan@osiris.Colorado.EDU Wed Jun 29 15:35:48 1994 Return-Path: behan@osiris.Colorado.EDU Received: from osiris.Colorado.EDU (osiris.Colorado.EDU [128.138.151.16]) by csf.Colorado.EDU (8.6.9/8.6.9/CNS-3.5) with ESMTP id PAA19475 for ; Wed, 29 Jun 1994 15:35:47 -0600 Received: from taweret.Colorado.EDU (taweret.Colorado.EDU [128.138.151.21]) by osiris.Colorado.EDU (8.6.9/8.6.9/CNS-3.5) with ESMTP id PAA21302 for ; Wed, 29 Jun 1994 15:35:47 -0600 Received: (behan@localhost) by taweret.Colorado.EDU (8.6.9/8.6.9/CNS-3.5) id PAA03683; Wed, 29 Jun 1994 15:35:46 -0600 Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 15:35:46 -0600 (MDT) From: Behan Pamela Sender: Behan Pamela Reply-To: Behan Pamela Subject: Re: fertility in U.S. To: PPN List Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII In response to Jackie's question, on a personal level, I think that educated/self-reflecting people have children because it is both a unique personal emotional experience/commitment, and because it is the primary way in which people make the future important to themselves, and one way to have some effect on it. That was the case for me, at least on a conscious level. I cannot speak for other groups, but I suspect motivations vary a great deal. I'm sure that many people want to be mothers and fathers because that seems normal (is the norm), and never think much more about it. At this point, I would think that U.S. family size is determined primarily by norms, by financial and time constraints, and by people's sense of other opportunities for self-expression and closeness. I don't think that the culture and public policy in the U.S. can be said to exactly support having children. Although having children remains a desired norm, the culture seems to support doing so only if you can also provide them with a home in the suburbs, educational vacations, expensive shoes, Nintendo, an orthodontist, etc., etc. As for public policies, most other industrialized nations provide much better benefits, including paid maternity/paternity leave, covering all prenatal and medical care, family support checks, childcare, etc. In the U.S., you're really on your own, particularly if you aren't wealthy enough to take advantage of the per-child tax exemption or childcare deduction. Women who have children with an undependable partner are really heavily punished for it, with child support awards rarely enforced. Paradoxically, I think you could say that the U.S. encourages fertility among those who have enough resources to afford children, but enough other satisfactions to not particularly want them. I think you could say that the U.S. discourages and punishes fertility among those who have little else, and greatly desire children. It then punishes the children for their poverty, recreating the whole cycle..... Pamela Behan