Many of us at Hillsdale are used to hearing about students’ families with five or more children. However, this reality is becoming increasingly rare across newer generations of young adults who can barely afford to live on their own.

According to Hillary Hoffower’s 2022 Business Insider article, “Birth rates and fertility rates have been steadily declining for the past eight years. Today, people of childbearing age, many of whom are millennials, are delaying having children.” 

She further wrote that — aside from increasing costs of having children — political uncertainty is a significant factor affecting people’s desire to bring children into the world. What will happen if the birth rate continues to decline? This is an issue, but the solution to the baby crisis is not simply telling adults to  “have more children.” We need a practical answer.

With the current pressure of rising inflation costs across the nation, many are reconsidering the decision to have children, afraid of the financial burdens a child would bring about. Various articles have lately emerged to support this idea. In the Daily Mail, Nicola Frapwell wrote about her and her husband’s financial situation and how it is not enough to support a child with the lifestyle they desire. Though they are from the U.K., their issues are common to many across the United States.

Nicola said, “The sad reality is, with nursery fees, our mortgage, utility bills, supermarket prices and endless household repairs and renovations, we simply cannot afford to have a baby. Not even on our combined income of £100,000 a year.”

There is merit to these financial concerns. The cost of living is exponentially increasing, especially in places like California, where the minimum wage continues to rise, making everything more expensive. Raising children is not without burden and financial cost, and can be nearly impossible for those in extreme poverty and single parenthood.  However, a counterargument to this notion recently emerged on TikTok by Emma Hayes, or @eclairehayes, who argues that having children, and many of them, is possible, even in Southern California for a middle-class family. For context, she was responding to another TikTok video claiming that “millennials are not able to afford children.” Hayes shared her perspective by using her family of 11 children as an example.

“I want to point out that the amount of children that you can have, and honestly a lot of big life decisions, are just based on priorities,” Hayes said. “Whether that’s your career, where you live, or what kind of car you want to have, or how big your house is, all of those things are gonna play a part in how many children you can have.”

After receiving backlash in her comments section for these beliefs, Hayes responded by reasserting that her perspective does not address those in poverty and she is not undermining the difficulty of raising children. Ultimately, she wanted to offer an encouraging perspective for those who desire a future with children.

“The reason why I created that video is because I wanted to present an alternative viewpoint to the disheartening statement that millennials, in general, cannot afford to have children today, and I wanted to give hope to those of us who want to have kids, whether that be today or in the future,” Hayes said.

Following this discussion, an essential question must be asked: Is the economy the only thing to blame in the discussion of affordability, or do our choices throughout adulthood affect this as well?

For example, a leading financial killer among adults is student loans. Many people are convinced that expensive secondary education will determine their future income and success. But once these poor students reemerge into the world, many find that their degrees are worthless and will be forever bound to debt. 

According to the Education Data Initiative, “The average federal student loan debt at $37,338 per borrower and private student loan debt averages $54,921 per borrower.” Even more terrifying is the statistic, “Those aged between 50 to 61 have the highest average student loan debt at $45,600.” In light of this, how can you expect adults to seek a life filled with family and children when they carry such financial burdens?

Though children are indeed expensive to care for, we must ask if there are ways to mitigate costs and what defines one’s quality of life. Does being poor make someone lesser or less capable of a good life? Though not all parents can afford to buy their babies Patagonia jackets or Ugg slippers, that doesn’t mean other options aren’t available. Our society lives with more material wealth than any other nation in the past. We are constantly in want, though we have little to need. We need to know our options and not be blindsided by what the media is feeding us. 

And we must also consider what gives one’s life value and meaning. Is it living a life free of burden and struggle, spoiled with material goods, or is it struggling and growing alongside those who care about you? The strongest people in our society are not the ones who live carefree but the ones who have overcome adversity. If we feed people the notion that they are infertile because of their material status, our society will become weaker.

And lastly, for those who desire to build families in the future, an important question to ask is, what can we do now to prepare ourselves for a financially successful future? Understanding our nation’s socio-economic sphere and increasing your financial literacy will help prepare you for adult life. Also, look to those around you who have big families and ask for their perspective.

The costs, though they may be high at times, cannot fuel our entire conversation about having children. Consider what you value in life and how children fit into that picture. Consider what kind of life you want for them, then see where you fall on this issue.