Why More Couples Are Choosing a Life Without Children — And Standing by It
Why more couples are choosing a childless life
As the oldest of the baby boomer generation turns 80 next year and the youngest become eligible for Social Security, President Trump is pushing for a second child amid a declining birth rate.
The Trump administration even proposed a $5,000 “baby bonus” to offset the cost of raising a child. But for many young couples, no amount of money is going to change their minds.
Tiana and PJ Morales were married seven years ago, and as newlyweds, they traveled around the world.
They say that not long ago, relatives would ask if they were planning to have children. But this Florida couple says they won’t have kids — not now, not ever.
Tiana, now 37, says she thought she would be a mother when she was younger, but after spending her twenties as a nanny caring for four children at once, that assumption changed.
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“I just realized, is this what I want to do every day?” Tiana said.
The U.S. fertility rate has fallen drastically over the past two decades and is now at a record low, according to C.D.C. data released last week. Some young adults say high costs are holding them back. Others fear climate change. Some are prioritizing their careers. But many say they don’t want children.
“We are raised to believe that it is our destiny to be parents,” said Amy Blackstone, a sociology professor at the University of Maine who has published several studies on people who call themselves “child-free by choice.”
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It’s a personal issue for Blackstone and her husband, Lance, who decided years ago to have a family of just two.
“A child-free person will say, ‘I value my relationship with my partner so much that I don’t want the other party to change that relationship,'” Blackstone said. “A parent will say the hypothetical relationship with the child is so important to me that I want that relationship.”
When Tiana’s friends started having children, she began organizing occasional get-togethers for people who want to remain childless. Their reasons range from lifestyle to what’s going on in the world and climate change.
While Tiana Morales is completely confident in her decision, she says a small part of her wonders what things will look like in the future.
“I grew up in a big family and the holidays were always with the big family. It’s fun. And so as I get older, what will the holidays look like? Will they be as fun? I don’t know,” she said.
But it was a choice — hers and hers alone — that was made with careful thought.
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