Fifty years ago, having a big family might have been considered more of the norm than unusual. But for the baby boomer generation today, the trend is changing. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the percentage of families with their own child living at home decreased to 46 percent in 2008, from 52 percent in 1950, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The data gathered by the Census Bureau indicates the aging of the population and changing fertility patterns are the reasons for the decreases in the percentage of families with their own child under 18 at home.
In 1950, 52 percent of family households had their own child under 18. During the years when the baby boomers were young, this percentage increased, reaching 57 percent in the early 1960s. In 2008, however, when the baby boomers were about ages 44 to 62, and likely to be householders themselves, the percentage of families with a child had declined to 46 percent.
Among the factors that contributed to the decrease in the percentage of family households with children under 18:
• As adults live longer, a larger proportion of married couple households will be those who are older and either childless, or whose adult children live elsewhere. In 1968, 29 percent of married men were age 55 and over, as were 22 percent of married women. In 2008, 38 percent of married men were 55 and over, as were 33 percent of married women.
• Increases in childlessness — The percentage of women age 40 to 44 who were childless increased from 10 percent in 1976 to 20 percent in 2006.
8 comments:
Great post on childless boomers. Who will be there when we are old? Neighbors are great in a pinch, but who will be our advocate when we need help over a period of days, weeks or even months? Even if you have long term care insurance, someone has to nag the docs to fill out the forms every week or month.
Well cathy since you idiots ruined the world I hope nobody is there when you baby killers are on your deathbed. Speaking of beds...you made it now you sleep in it. Your Godless generation deserves every bit of lonliness you created. You contracepted and aborted yourselves into solitude. Look at it this way..spending your waning days in solitude and depression will help prep you for your final destination. I am an gen Xer and we cant wait until your all are GONE!
Wow Anonymous, that was harsh! How about us boomers who can't have children? If you are going to spew vitriol like that, at least "man-up" and put your name on it. BTW: What are you doing to solve today's problems - Whining, complaining and sucking up government programs? That's my guess.
Missy,
Hear! Hear! I totally agree with you. I had actually forgotten about this post until your comments popped up.
I felt the same way when I read those comments from "anonymous" but I posted them anyway so others could see the ignorance. Like you, I feel if you want to make a BOLD STATEMENT--don't hide behind the "anonymous" label.
Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment.
This is Carol here and "Thank you, Missy"! Anonymous - what about those women who cannot have children.. or for that matter those of us who chose NOT to - you show me why I did not want children - especially since most of the gen Xers, like you who walk around feeling entitled and never giving back or making the world a better place like many boomers have and will continue to.
Hope you all can live up to your hoity toity attitude and better than thou attitudes! All of you!
That post from Anonymous was very harsh and presumptuous. Shows how much an idiot he or she is.
I am a male boomer and did not realize until recently that men over 40 have a greater risk of offspring who are autistic, bipolar, or schizophrenic. In the face of this, the media points to big name older celebrity fathers, such as 68 year old Robert Deniro, who recently fathered another kid.
I wanted to avoid being a father until later because I could not afford the time / money in my 30s and especially 20s.
So if I do want to help in raising a young person my best bet would be to just be a step father - when I'm ready.
There is no guarantee that if you do have kids, any of them will be responsible and want to "take care of" you when you are old and sick.
Also it's a very irrationally selfish attitude to expect someone to be a sacrificial animal and tend to you 24/7 uncompensated when you are old and sick.
Best thing is to have an agent do this. My dad had terminal illness and three shifts of nurses 24/7 for several months and died in his home. I could not be there for him because I was in charge of "taking care of" my aunt who was in an assisted living home. I worked full time and had a girlfriend - so had relationship maintenance duties. The point is that I could have turned out to be a crooked nephew and done nothing. No guarantees.
How stupid can you be. It's obvious you haven't done your research to find out the truth. Read Margaret Sanger's documents if you want to learn the truth. The wanted to make a lot a people childless. It wasn't just through abortion. They gave a lot of bad drugs to people, deliberately neglected some and deliberately sterilized a lot of people in more than 2 states. The system wanted this. Find out why.
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