Yes and fifteen no (Part One)

On the occasion of the debate on marriage and childbearing for same-sex couples, a more general initiative was taken regarding family and children. For an entire month, I methodically asked every new person I met, every boy and girl I saw moving into the 25-35 age bracket. I ran without the statistics rules of course, but I came to a certain conclusion. I asked a total of sixteen people, five boys and eleven girls, this percentage happened to me, and this is what I used.

None of the men I asked were married and the question was simple and had two or three parts. “Do you want to have a family?” It was the first. “Do you want to have children?” the second. If there was a positive response to the first, I moved on to the third question: “How many children?” Do you doubt the results of this amateur research? You think so, but I'm telling you you're away at night. The responses I received were more negative and nightmarish than any negative scenario you could think of.

not to mention. Out of sixteen girls and boys, only one (!) girl gave me a positive answer to the first question. He said: Yes, I want to have a family. Although I did not ask “Do you want to get married?”, my question and simple cohabitation with or without children, he considered it a family. Among them and the rest, half the girls answered, “At some point in my life I might do that, but it's not possible now, and I'm not even thinking about it,” and the boys as a whole looked at me as if I were talking about flying donkeys. They were twenty-eight and thirty-three, but they didn't even think about it. It was a terrible shock for me.

Because well, I have kids, and I know more or less how they think, so I knew that starting a new family and getting married and everything that comes with it was no longer a priority for young people. But not like that, brother. At sixteen, fifteen 'no's' and only one 'yes'? Well, having children isn't even discussed as a theoretical possibility. Here they do not plan to leave their children's room or cannot or do not want to, they will talk about chutsouvelas with which they will play on their balconies?

If I started now to sort out the financial and operational pain points that a new couple wanting to have children would face, I would write until tomorrow. But I argued from knowledge that poorer societies have more children and that richer societies are constantly working to reduce their number. To be honest, the previous excuse for rejection given to me by the 16 men I asked was financial. But it's not just about money or the lack of daycare centers and full-day schools.

(To be continued in tomorrow's issue)