Family degeneration has been happening for a long time now and it does not seem like it will end anytime soon. Today I will review the causes and consequences of this epidemic.
To review: a nuclear family is a family unit comprised of a mother, father, and children.
The facts:
“the nuclear family has crumbled piece by piece. In 1970, more than two-thirds of American adults between 25 and 49 lived with a spouse and at least one kid. By 2021, only 37% of adults fit the bill, Pew Research found.” (Source 1) The amount of people who are having children has been decreasing drastically. People see having children as more of a burden than not. People now say things like, “I’m too busy to have kids,” or “If I have kids I will never do the things I want to do.” To me, this is selfishness. The reason having children is so wonderful is because you will not live forever, that’s for sure, but if you have children, then when you are old, they can entertain you, and you can have joy in them doing amazing things if you raised them well. The thing is, to have children you must have a relationship. If you have children, you must raise them. This is a type of investment. It requires your time to be spent selflessly on someone else. It is not instant gratification to have children like many people have acted like. It is a long term committment, that leads to incredible joys. “According to the Census Bureau, the average length of a first marriage is eight years.” (Source 2) This is one of the other leading causes, because so many people simply cannot learn to work with someone else who is different from them, they cannot share their private life with someone else, they cannot be willing to help someone else rather than help themselves. And so, this causes consequences.
#2: Consequences
Issues like this cannot go without consequences. See, for someone to exist, they must be born. And if people aren’t having children, we will not have a future as a country. We actually need people to have children. If a country has less children than the number of people in the generation previous, you are decreasing in population. So, obviously not having kids for so many people is an issue
Another consequence of this de-radicalization of the family is found in the young kids we still have. “Seventy percent of children (under 18 years old) live with two parents, 23% with their mother only, 3% with their father only, and nearly 4% with no parent ” (Source 3) Imagine what this does to the kids. A boy raised only with a mother will struggle to learn how to be a man. A girl living only with a father is in a tough spot. Do you understand why both parents are essential? In fact, I believe that a child having a mother and father raising them should be a right, not a privilege.
Kids who live with one parent do not perform aswell mentally or academically. “Psychological effects: Children of single parents are prone to various psychiatric illnesses. According to one study, psychiatric disorders were found to occur with higher frequency in children of single parent families, especially those lacking a father during the child’s whole life.” So we know what issues there are but how can we solve them?
The #1 common reason for divorce is lack of commitment. But how can we teach people when they are young to have commitment to things? You see, lack of commitment is the source of this issue, but also many others in the world. How can we teach our children commitment? How can you learn it if you are a teenager? By taking responsibility. And responsibility is also low. People aren’t accountable for their own mistakes, or at least they act like they aren’t. People have their school to be accountable for, but some people don’t care about how they do in school, so what about them? I think accountability and commitment is a school that needs to be learned more than it is.
Having a supportive family is far more important than many people think. The stress relief it is after a bad day to get home from school and get a hug from your parents, getting tucked in every night, these things give the child a sense of security, which can really change their lives for the better. If they feel more secure they will feel less anxious, and live happier and better lives. Do you guys agree that family degeneration and moral degeneration is the cause of many of our problems?
So here is my call to action. Do you plan on getting married? Stay married. Your conflict may seem like your problem, but when you argue about petty things, suddenly the kids suffer. They are the burden. Don’t get married to someone just based off of how they look, plan for a long term sustainable relationship. Plan on not getting divorced! Because after the first 10 years or so, the chances of a divorce go down a lot. Yes, you can strengthen relationships. So send this to anyone who you think needs it so the kids don’t get hurt permanently for the selfishness of a parent! The kids don’t care about the money, or really anything, just that their parents can work together in unity. The poorest family in unity will be happier than the richest family in chaos. What do you guys think? Leave your comments and opinions on this topic below.
Sources Cited:
Source 3: https://actforyouth.net/adolescence/demographics/family.cfm#:~:text=Seventy%20percent%20of%20children%20(under,without%20a%20parent%20%5B1%5D.