Week 1: Family Trends

I've been learning a lot these past couple weeks about the current marriage and family trends, and it's a little surprising, I've got to say. Population growth has always been an issue. Like in China when they were worried about overpopulation, and had a one child limit. Or the baby boom after the Great Depression. I think that most people view the population as growing exponentially. Which, at one point it might’ve been. However, I don’t think this is the case anymore. Due to quite a few facts we talked about in class last week, I believe that if it hasn’t started yet, the population world wide will start to get smaller.One of the major reasons behind this is the recent low birth/fertility rates. Meaning the average number of kids a woman has in her lifetime.  It has dropped significantly in the past 50 years. In the 1960’s the birth rate was an average of 5 per woman. And nowadays, it has dropped to an average of about 2.4. This is because the whole concept/culture of family has completely changed. Having a family has become way lower on the priority scale, which has led to individuals waiting longer to have kids. They are either wanting to wait until they have money, or they just don’t see the point in having kids. Or, they think more than one or two would be too much to take care of financially, so people are having less kids. There’s also the subject of how the average ages that male and female get married are getting higher too. And, if you get married later, and start having kids later, you won’t be able to have as many as people used to have back in the 60’s. And there are reasons for this too. Women nowadays are told to focus on themselves, work on their education, and find a good paying job. None of which are bad things. However, they are also told that they should wait until they have everything figured out before even thinking about marriage. Or, people also think they need to live together before getting married to get to know each other better, or to see if they actually like living with that person. Social media, and different worldly things have been teaching young kids, adults, everyone that “it’s not that important,” or “you don’t need to get married.” When in reality, the whole reason for the Plan of Salvation, and coming to Earth was for us to create families. We are supposed to start preparing for marriage at a young age, so when we meet our eternal companion we can be ready. No, I’m not saying that’s all you should focus on. I’m not saying you shouldn’t work on your education. I’m not saying that finding a good job that pays well is a bad idea. Those are all great things to work for, so you can live a great life. What I am saying is that marriage IS important. Having kids is something that everyone should look forward to. And, how many you have should be between you, your spouse and God. Marriage should be something that everyone looks forward to, and wants. It’s part of God’s plan, and shouldn’t be put off just because you don’t have everything figured out. Even if you wait until you’re done with school, you’re still not going to have everything figured out. You won’t ever in this lifetime. But, having an eternal companion, and a family will bring nothing but blessings and knowledge in this life, and the life to come.