World’s Latest Endangered Species: The Family

Many things have changed throughout the  last few decades… Shorter skirts, more women in the workplace, inflation of the economy, rising abortion rates, more rampant pornography, skyrocketing divorce rate, plummet in childbirth rates (as in less kids per family), more kids in daycare, higher rates of childbirth out of wedlock, average later age of marriage, and more kids growing up without two parents. Doesn’t that just make you depressed!? Not saying that the world has done nothing but go into a downward spiral, there have been many good things that have come about… But the underlying denominator here is that the family unit is under attack, and that has MANY repercussions.

Josh and I are LDS (yes, that’s “Mormon”) and our faith considers the family to be central to happiness. We believe that with a family, one can achieve the greatest amount of happiness in life and thereafter. Therefore this decline of the family is responsible for many of the problems we have today. Birth rates have dropped 50% in 50 years! And now these rates are WELL below replacement level, which means certain populations are in danger of extinction… this is especially true for European countries. There’s also an additional problem with this- the larger, older population needs younger people to take care of them by paying taxes, holding jobs etc… but this younger population isn’t found anywhere because no one’s having babies! Sure this is happening in other countries around the globe, but it’s a problem in the U.S. too— remember how everyone’s talking about the baby boomers taking all the Social Security and leaving none for my generation? Well, that’s because of the lack-o-babies issue.  Part of this birth rate problem has come about because of society’s transition with women’s rights. I’m not saying that women’s rights wasn’t WAY important, or that women are less than men or anything… but with the women’s rights came the feminist movement, like “women don’t need men.” What happens then? People aren’t getting married until later to pursue careers, which results in higher rates of sex outside of marriage, thus childbirth outside of marriage. Society’s decline in morality has had similar affects with regards to more open sexuality. And no, I’m not saying women should not pursue careers, maybe just not in place of building a family.

The interesting thing is, people who get married later has an affect on the divorce rate because as a person develops, they define themselves more, and they become less… pliable… As opposed to people who get married younger, then grow and mature together, creating a tighter bond.  My family was NOT a fan of me getting married at 21, while still in college, to a guy who was still in college. Sure, he didn’t have an “established residence” and he wasn’t in his career yet… But I tell you, going through what we did (and are still going through) brought us so close together. And the slightly more stable life we have now was built TOGETHER.  Even though it was awful at the time, we look back on our days of living in a 300 sq ft studio apartment, with both of us in college and working, with fondness! Alright, i’ll step off of my soap box now…

So another HUGE problem with the decline of the family is the false economy it creates. Nowadays, it’s nearly impossible to survive without two incomes! As Josh and I decided that I’d stay home to take care of Jax, it was a really scary decision… And we’re still trying to figure that out… But for many families it’s impossible, which is such a disservice to their kids because kids need their moms!

I feel very strongly that Satan is trying to destroy the family because with families, we truly get closer to our Father in Heaven. It’s too bad that it’s working so well in the world. But I guess that means that those of us who choose to defend the family need to fight extra hard!!! GO TEAM!!!