The Importance of Families

This past week I watched a really interesting documentary called Demographic Winter. (I included the link to the video below for you overachievers to go watch.) Just a quick summary about Demographic Winter, it focuses on the rate of the population and the effects of people having children- or rather not having children. I am shocked at how the fertility rate is declining everywhere- not just in the US! I ask myself "Why is this happening? Why don’t people want kids?" I have always wanted children. It is one of my life goals to have a good sized family, one like how I was raised. It was normal to me for people to have a family with 3+ kids. Watching this video helped me see just how wrong I was!

There are so many people who think one or two children is perfect. There are a lot who don't even want kids. Some of you may be this way and that's your choice. There are a lot of reasons why people don't want kids or don't want a lot. They believe there aren't enough resources or space to have larger families. But in reality there are plenty of resources and space. Of course money could be an issue but no matter the reasoning, families and having children are important.

Think about it. If people started to have just one or two children our population would eventually start to decrease. What would that do to jobs? Where would people find support? I don't know about you but my family is my first source of support and help when things don't go how I planned. What would this do to the creativity and innovation in our society? Think this has nothing to do with having children? I know it does. As more and more people have less children there won't be anyone to take over the jobs others retire from. That means we will have to work harder and be more efficient. There also won't be a lot of people to bounce ideas off of and our creativity and innovation will die down. Families also play a huge role in society. There are so many things that are learned in families that are hard to learn elsewhere.

I am LDS and was raised hearing how families are important. It wasn't until I watched this documentary that I realized just how important families are. It effects the society, it effects individuals, and it effects the world. Of course it is everyone's personal choice to have kids or not but I strongly encourage anyone to do so! Happiness is within the family.

Demographic Winter: http://www.byutv.org/show/5e819b00-5e99-4bf4-931e-c154d3c2dc8d/new-economic-reality-demographic-winter