young people increasingly say 'NO children'

Don't worry we all do it, Certainly I do.

Sorry MOnica! I've commited unforgivable sin of not reading the full thread!

Soul has = wouldn’t

Just say I’ve got this wonderful selfish life and I don’t want it to end! Fair enough! Lucky these peoples’ parents didn’t interfere with their children’s birth....wouldn’t be able to feel so smug ...or feel anything really! Cos they wouldn’t be here taking up space!

...well, that’s an interesting opinion.

Can’t imagine why young people soul has want to bring more people into the world when people are so kind to younger generations

Oopsminty that quote was used in a post that was a direct response to JenniferEccles and applies specifically to the UK and not to any other country.

The link I gave in that post was a reference for England and Wales only.

My daughter didn't want children. Then an accidental pregnancy at 32 resulted in my adored grandson. I really wanted grandchildren and was, and still am, over the moon with him. He is very, very loved.

with birthrates dropping below replacement rate for so many countries, the proportion of the population as a whole having umpteen children is vanishingly small.

That's not really the case, MOnica.

It is in developed countries.

The United Nations have forecast the population will have risen from 7.2 billion today, to 8.1 billion in 2025.

Most of this growth will be in developing countries and more than half in Africa.

amongst/friends

There seems to be more conscious decisions not to have children amongst those in 30s/40s these days ...at least amonst our family and friend. One set of friends have 2 children in 40s. One has 2 children the other none.Another set of friends have 2 dds. Neither have children of their own. My brother has 2 dds. One has 2 children the other none. Just my circle I know but amongst my mother's closest friends all had children of their own. I think there is a distinct change. Maybe people are less judgemental about other people's choices. I know that when I was young I got continual hints/questions, especially from MIL about why I was stopping at one. Perhaps there isn't the pressure now or the feeling that having children was the automatic 'next' step after marriage.

Oops! Unintelligent.

Thankfully, yes.

It would be boring if just the most 'intelligent' people reproduced. (Although intelligence takes many forms, I think)

Takes all sorts to make a world

We have 5 children. I have never regretted having a big family. Of course we have had down times as all other families do. It is fascinating watching five different people emerge from the same upbringing. I am really proud of them( most of the time!) I was also fortunate enough to enjoy my career as well. I respect those who decide children are not for them but I can't imagine feeling like that myself.

My brother didn't want to be responsible for the suffering of a new human on a dying planet
What a strange idea, Hetty.
Unless parents actively abuse their children or fail to provide them with food and shelter, or fail to protect them from harm, they are not responsible for anything their offspring might suffer.
Philip Larkin might have thought so, but I don’t think he had a ‘dying planet’ in mind when he wrote those famous lines.

Are you really denying that the world is over-populated and becoming increasingly polluted + warming up/planet change- and that it is all a 'meme'. Really ???

That's not what I said. What I said was only about people who choose not to have kids.
Like the Shakers of eighteenth century America. The believed in complete celibacy for everyone, not just the priesthood. The result: not many Shakers around now (if any) who believe such things because those who believed it and acted on it died out. It is the belief that is the meme.

It could happen again, I suppose though the meme has been generated in a different way.

Check out Steve Stewart-Williams's book, The Ape that Understood the Universe for better descrips of memes.

I do not regret a single moment of our decision to have children, my children have always been my pride and joy, even if at times I felt like giving them away - for an hour or two.

Baggs ''I realise that the anti-human meme that we are a complete and utter plague on the planet is fashionable right now. It'll die out because its holders will.''

Are you really denying that the world is over-populated and becoming increasingly polluted + warming up/planet change- and that it is all a 'meme'. Really ???

I don't see the human race dying out just yet because a few people decide not to have kids. If I was starting out now I wouldn't bother either.

It doesn't seem particularly educated to me to take your genes out of the pool because of what Daniel Dennett has called a "sterilising parasite" meme (cultural idea, roughly speaking). It goes against all evolution. Life is about survival and passing on genes.

I realise that the anti-human meme that we are a complete and utter plague on the planet is fashionable right now. It'll die out because its holders will.

I was never broody or wanted children but we had an 'accident'! Then we wanted more. I can't imagine, now, not having kids and grandchildren.

My brother and friend both decided not to have any, though. My brother didn't want to be responsible for the suffering of a new human on a dying planet - and my friend just doesn't like kids and finds them annoying! There's good reasons for all the options.

Actually, jura I would say it was much the same, the fear of assured destruction whether by nuclear bombs or climate change is total and worldwide.

JenniferEccles, with birthrates dropping below replacement rate for so many countries, the proportion of the population as a whole having umpteen children is vanishingly small. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/aug/01/birth-rate-in-england-and-wales-at-all-time-low

I just can’t imagine not wanting children. I always wanted them, and truly think I married in order to have them. (It was usual in my youth to marry before having children!) I particularly wanted a daughter, but didn’t manage that - am nevertheless happy with my two sons.

I like the sense of continuity, of my life not being the end. I now have grandchildren too. I take none of this for granted. To me it’s a perpetual wonder.

There is some truth in that JenniferEccles as I have 2 friends who chose not to have children, one an ex-teacher who married a teacher and the other one who'd wanted to work her way up in what she was doing to gain her Masters, which she did. She too is married. Both couples happily wed might I add.

It has been said that those who have decided not to have children are often those very people who should be reproducing as they tend to be intelligent well educated educated people who have carefully thought things through.

In contrast those at the other side of the spectrum are the very ones who tend to have umpteen children.

Of course it’s a controversial theory but maybe there’s some truth in it.