3 ms·

There are a number of studies that show that the provision of cheap/free childcare can increase birth rate.

by cbzbc 5y ago

pm90 5y ago
Yep, plus increasing/making benefits such as maternity/paternity leave, tax deductions for parents, investing in school districts so parents don’t have to move to a good school district, build more housing… I guess just making it a lot easier to be a parent. Because currently it’s not.
- martindbp 5y ago
  Instead the general trend seems to be that single/child-free people despise any privilege or help parents may recieve in the corporate world, or by the government (coming out of their taxes). Having children is now a "selfish" activity. Apparently, the correct response to the hopelessness of saving our civilization in the face of climate change and other challenges is to... not have children so that our civilization ends for sure, but at least on our terms?
  - pm90 5y ago
    The general trend afaik has been reactions to certain employers attempting to provide these benefits to parents while their other employees are being left out to dry. I do think it’s unfair for eg a company to provide generous leave to parents and then expect non-parents to pick up the slack; the correct approach here is making these benefits universal and fair by law, so that employers need to both provide these benefits to parents and hire enough workers to pick up slack when they’re away. Also most of these benefits can’t be provided on a per employer basis, they need to be mandated across City/State/Country for it to have systemic effects on the society at large (eg building more housing or funding school districts better).
    - martindbp 5y ago
      > I do think it’s unfair for eg a company to provide generous leave to parents and then expect non-parents to pick up the slack I do think it's unfair, and untenable, to leave this to companies. My perspective is from Sweden where things mostly work as you describe. But whether companies or the government do it, the money will come out of everyone's pockets in the end. I don't see how it being government-led would make it any cheaper, but maybe you could clarify?
  - wallacoloo 5y ago
    > Instead the general trend seems to be that single/child-free people despise any privilege or help parents may recieve in the corporate world, or by the government (coming out of their taxes). i don't disbelieve this, but this is the first i'm hearing of it. the obvious counter-example i have at hand is Bernie Sanders and others on the left pushing for free college education (which is a benefit to all the parents out there who start college funds for their children). and didn't last year's stimmy checks/tax breaks give more benefits for parents with children than parents without children? i swear early revisions of Biden's infrastructure bill had stuff for childcare, too, though idk if that made it into the final revision. i can believe that there's people who oppose these things, but is the trend really against providing benefits for child-raising parents, or is it just that the roll-out of these benefits is too slow for your taste?

There are a number of studies that show that the provision of cheap/free childcare can increase birth rate.

by cbzbc 5y ago

There are a number of studies that show that the provision of cheap/free childcare can increase birth rate.

pm90 5y ago

Yep, plus increasing/making benefits such as maternity/paternity leave, tax deductions for parents, investing in school districts so parents don’t have to move to a good school district, build more housing… I guess just making it a lot easier to be a parent. Because currently it’s not.

martindbp 5y ago
Instead the general trend seems to be that single/child-free people despise any privilege or help parents may recieve in the corporate world, or by the government (coming out of their taxes). Having children is now a "selfish" activity. Apparently, the correct response to the hopelessness of saving our civilization in the face of climate change and other challenges is to... not have children so that our civilization ends for sure, but at least on our terms?
- pm90 5y ago
  The general trend afaik has been reactions to certain employers attempting to provide these benefits to parents while their other employees are being left out to dry. I do think it’s unfair for eg a company to provide generous leave to parents and then expect non-parents to pick up the slack; the correct approach here is making these benefits universal and fair by law, so that employers need to both provide these benefits to parents and hire enough workers to pick up slack when they’re away. Also most of these benefits can’t be provided on a per employer basis, they need to be mandated across City/State/Country for it to have systemic effects on the society at large (eg building more housing or funding school districts better).
  - martindbp 5y ago
    > I do think it’s unfair for eg a company to provide generous leave to parents and then expect non-parents to pick up the slack I do think it's unfair, and untenable, to leave this to companies. My perspective is from Sweden where things mostly work as you describe. But whether companies or the government do it, the money will come out of everyone's pockets in the end. I don't see how it being government-led would make it any cheaper, but maybe you could clarify?
- wallacoloo 5y ago
  > Instead the general trend seems to be that single/child-free people despise any privilege or help parents may recieve in the corporate world, or by the government (coming out of their taxes). i don't disbelieve this, but this is the first i'm hearing of it. the obvious counter-example i have at hand is Bernie Sanders and others on the left pushing for free college education (which is a benefit to all the parents out there who start college funds for their children). and didn't last year's stimmy checks/tax breaks give more benefits for parents with children than parents without children? i swear early revisions of Biden's infrastructure bill had stuff for childcare, too, though idk if that made it into the final revision. i can believe that there's people who oppose these things, but is the trend really against providing benefits for child-raising parents, or is it just that the roll-out of these benefits is too slow for your taste?