I'm not convinced those are the only options, at least if option 1 is purely economic. I could imagine a society that is more geared toward supporting children

I'm not convinced those are the only options, at least if option 1 is purely economic. I could imagine a society that is more geared toward supporting children and parents, and encouraging parenthood, in other ways. ie. 'parenting as a village' or other things along those lines. Don't know how to transform the society we have into one that looks like that though.