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Totally anecdotal: When my wife and I were having kids 30 years ago, we stopped at two, as did many or even most of our friends. Now, however, on our block in o

Totally anecdotal: When my wife and I were having kids 30 years ago, we stopped at two, as did many or even most of our friends. Now, however, on our block in our upscale neighborhood, with educated professional women, just about every one of the young families has three kids, and I can't think of a single young family that has just one kid. (Nowadays during the recent COVID-19 lockdown, pretty much every afternoon we see hordes of kids, roughly ages three to ten, riding bikes and scooters and skateboards back and forth on the street, although that's slowing down as the Houston summer weather sets in.)

paulcole 6y ago
Kids today are a status symbol. Everybody can finance the same iPhone and luxury sedan. So how do you show you’ve made it? It’s a real flex to have a gaggle of kids filling up a giant house.
- dctoedt 6y ago
  > Kids today are a status symbol. Out of curiosity, do you have kids? They're a pretty labor-intensive "status symbol." <g>
  - paulcole 6y ago
    Lol no way would I ever have kids. Got a vasectomy as soon as I could find a doctor to do one. But I also don’t have to own a Porsche to know why people buy them. Status symbols aren’t just expensive to buy, they’re expensive to own, too. You think the orthopedic surgeon mows the lawn on their vacation cabin upstate every weekend? Or the big law litigator does the mechanical work on their Cessna? No, those things cost a ton to store, maintain, fuel, and use. Same as kids. But then the status comes from putting in as little work as possible (through hired help) and only showing them off when you want. Send ‘em to boarding school, hire an au pair, etc. etc. Another way to think of it. Look at things the working classes have out of need/desperation and that require tremendous amounts of work. The upper classes want those things for recreation/enjoyment/status and to do as little work as possible themselves.

paulcole 6y ago

Kids today are a status symbol. Everybody can finance the same iPhone and luxury sedan. So how do you show you’ve made it? It’s a real flex to have a gaggle of kids filling up a giant house.

dctoedt 6y ago
> Kids today are a status symbol. Out of curiosity, do you have kids? They're a pretty labor-intensive "status symbol." <g>
- paulcole 6y ago
  Lol no way would I ever have kids. Got a vasectomy as soon as I could find a doctor to do one. But I also don’t have to own a Porsche to know why people buy them. Status symbols aren’t just expensive to buy, they’re expensive to own, too. You think the orthopedic surgeon mows the lawn on their vacation cabin upstate every weekend? Or the big law litigator does the mechanical work on their Cessna? No, those things cost a ton to store, maintain, fuel, and use. Same as kids. But then the status comes from putting in as little work as possible (through hired help) and only showing them off when you want. Send ‘em to boarding school, hire an au pair, etc. etc. Another way to think of it. Look at things the working classes have out of need/desperation and that require tremendous amounts of work. The upper classes want those things for recreation/enjoyment/status and to do as little work as possible themselves.