While women are absolutely disproportionally affected by a couple having children, in general raising a family needs to be made such that it isn’t so disruptive

While women are absolutely disproportionally affected by a couple having children, in general raising a family needs to be made such that it isn’t so disruptive to… well, basically everything. In today’s economy once a couple has even one kid, many sacrifices must be made by both parents, even for the relatively privileged in the working middle class. Not only are the financial and opportunity costs huge, but so are missed experiences – with the age of retirement skyrocketing, choosing to be a parent can mean essentially trading away the remainder of one’s finite lifetime. If birthrates are to recover, society must restructure such that we do not live to work and families within a community support each other so parents don’t have to forfeit the people they were prior to parenthood and can have lives beyond their job and kids.