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The work seems to expand to fill the time. You'll notice people struggle to raise their 2-3 kids, when people previously had over a dozen. They're now putting i
by nitwit005 9y ago
The work seems to expand to fill the time. You'll notice people struggle to raise their 2-3 kids, when people previously had over a dozen. They're now putting in more effort per-child.
Having cleaning be easier similarly seems to raise cleaning standards.
- Terr_ 9y agoOne important difference is that drastically fewer of the children die before adulthood.
- lotsofpulp 9y agoChildren also weren't expected to continuously be monitored by adults before. They left the house and hung out with siblings or neighborhood kids until it was time to eat.
- gozur88 9y agoThat was his whole point when he said the work expands to fill the time. There's no particular reason new to the current era that children should be continuously monitored.
- dzdt 9y agoWell if you have a dozen children it is a safe bet that some are over the age of 12 and have lots of experience with younger siblings, excellent babysitter qualifications.
- irrational 9y agoIf raising 3 kids is 3x work, raising 12 kids is not 12x work. The reason being is that as the kids get older they start to take on the chores and helping out with the little ones (unless the parents are morons and don't train the kids to work and assign them tasks). So you have 3 young children and that is 3x work. But, by the time the next three come along, the first three are old enough to help out (maybe 4-5x work) and they are even more capable of helping out when the next set of 3 come along (by which time the second set of 3 have taken over the tasks previously done by the first set of 3, so maybe 6x work). There actually reaches a point where the last set of 3 no longer have to be constantly monitored, fed, dressed, etc. and you have a whole pipeline of trained helpers and the parenting becomes fairly easy (maybe 2x work).
- Borealid 9y agoThis argument assumes the older children share the parents' goals. If the children are assumed to possess free will, it is possible that the older ones' actions could result in an increase in the amount of work for the parent as they got older. It is also possible to "raise" children one did not have biologically, and to have more than one child at a time biologically. Twelve children born together would be... tough. For a number of reasons.
- randyrand 9y agoWashing machines both increased cleaning standards and made cleaning easier / a smaller part of our life.