Some good news

From the Wall Street Journal:

No Waiting: Younger Women Are Saying Yes to Motherhood

For nearly 40 years, women have been delaying childbirth longer and longer, partly to launch careers. Now, this trend may be ending.

For the first time since government records have been kept, the average age at which women have their first babies posted a decline -- according to newly released data from the National Center for Health Statistics. Mothers' mean age at their first childbirth fell to 25.0 years in 2006, the most recent figures available, from 25.2 in 2005. Women ages 20 to 24 led the shift, with a 5% increase in the rate of first births.

A one-year reversal doesn't make a trend, of course. But the study lends weight to anecdotal evidence that young women are tuning in more closely to their biological clocks. "It's the first time it's ever gone down, and certainly that's noteworthy," says Brady Hamilton, co-author of the study.

The relegation of children as an afterthought, even among Christian couples, is leading inexorably to a decline in our society. We are rapidly approaching the point where we will not replace ourselves and are probably already at that point when we look at our societal expectations. We expect that we will work from about 20 until about 65 and then retire and live off our pensions, retirement savings and Social Security. But with people living longer and longer, and having ever fewer children, we are going to see our society becoming "top heavy" with far more adults in retirement than adults in the workforce, and that means that in order to support the system of expectations that we have, an ever increasing percentage of the wages of working Americans will have to be allocated to the care and support of the elderly.

The whole problem is compounded by the interference of the government in the process. Our government is inherently inefficient, so we have perhaps the least efficient institution in our society being given the greatest share of responsibility for our retirement. So we have society telling people "wait to have children until you are ready", which leads to later and later child bearing which in turn makes child bearing more difficult leading to the rise of fertility treatments. So here is the logic: save your money, wait to get married, get married late, have a hard time getting pregnant and then blow all the money you saved on fertility treatments or adoption. There is a difference between getting married later in life or having natural difficulty getting pregnant and the willful postponement of children until a more favorable time. This is especially true in Christian couples. Not that Christian couples wait longer than non-Christians, but that they should know better. Children are a marvelous blessing. I would hazard to say that after the miracle of salvation, there is no greater blessing a Christian can receive than children.

But what are we teaching our children? Are we teaching them through words and deeds that children are a necessary nuisance, one that should be avoided for as long as possible? Or are we encouraging them to seek the blessings of Christian marriage and children? Based on family size in churches and the age of parents, I would say that we certainly are not making having children a priority for our children.

I have more to say on this (surprise, surprise) regarding Christian kids and college later. Suffice it to say that if we are prioritizing careers, travel and fun for our kids and de-emphasizing marriage and children, we are failing as parents. If your daughter grows up to be a doctor or if your son grows up to be an engineer and they never grasp the blessings of marriage and family, you have not done your job as a parent and your children has been done a disservice.