Millennial and Gen Z parents are struggling: With the cost of raising a kid soaring and no “village” to help them, millennial and Gen Z parents feel lonely and overwhelmed
by thisisinsider
Millennial and Gen Z parents are struggling: With the cost of raising a kid soaring and no “village” to help them, millennial and Gen Z parents feel lonely and overwhelmed
by thisisinsider
6 comments
***From Business Insider’s Juliana Kaplan:***
Kyle Taylor doesn’t have a village.
The Alabama-based 26-year-old and his girlfriend were delighted when their daughter was born a year ago, but nowadays they are feeling a bit lost. To make ends meet, Taylor has been spending a lot of time at work. And while his girlfriend stays at home, Taylor’s schedule and the needs of the baby have left them stretched thin. But none of Taylor’s friends are parents, and most don’t plan on having kids, leaving them unsure how to chip in with a newborn. Growing up, Taylor always heard about the proverbial village it takes to raise a child. Now that he actually has one, he realizes there is no village anymore.
“There’s already this kind of disconnect for us. People aren’t thinking in terms of like, how can I support my friend?” he said. “Rather, I think they’re just kind of grateful that they’re not in my situation of having someone to care for.”
Millennial and Gen Z parents are finding themselves isolated. Maybe they’ve [moved away from their family](https://www.businessinsider.com/day-care-costs-us-mom-paid-over-22000-for-childcare-2023-6?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=insider-economy-sub-comment) in search of a well-paying job or cheaper rent. When parents are close by, they’re often still working and don’t have time to pitch in with childcare. Outside the family tree, many of their peers either can’t afford or are choosing not to have kids, making it harder for them to understand what their new-parent friends are dealing with. And raising children is becoming increasingly expensive, adding an economic weight to their worries.
“We’ve been left with kind of a wreckage of an economy here in the states. It’s tough,” he told me. “It’s really, really tough living paycheck to paycheck, like most people, and not really getting a whole lot of support or feeling like people my age really understand.”
The new paradigm of parenthood is made up of a series of impossible decisions: leaving jobs, moving away from friends or families, or working longer hours to make ends meet. Natalie Groff, a 33-year-old mother of four, summed up her cohort’s dilemma succinctly: “The way things are right now, it’s pretty messed up and the odds are definitely stacked against us.”
I do think we need that village. What I’d do would be to put food in all schools, breakfast, lunch and dinner. If the kid goes to school, the kid eats. If the kid screws up, he can explain to mama why he didn’t eat today.
We would do better spending money on this than endless war. If we get better results out of our schools, it could translate into improved GDP. There should be no hungry kids in school.
Remember when people could work bagging groceries and afford raising a family with decent housing? And if you had a high school education you could have a vacation joint too.
Anyways, at least our richest now can fuck around going to space. Totally worth the collapse of the middle class.
This is one of the many reasons I don’t have kids.
What does this have to do with economy?
No equitable social webs allowed, only ruthless individualistic capitalism for you.