The complete fracturing of children’s education post-war cannot be understated as a society-wide catastrophe.
Ironically stay-at-home mothers were already not the norm pre-war for the poors/minorities. Which participated in generational poverty as those children had a worse access to parenting and education. But the post-war middle class suddenly fell into that pattern as well, with similar results.
On top of that you’ve got the meteoric rise of car-centric urbanism, fracturing communities. It used to take a village to raise a child, now they can’t even walk across their neighborhood unsupervised because the roads aren’t safe for children. Indirectly, parents trust fewer and fewer community members to watch their children, making the task of raising small children unusually difficult and tiring.
Countries with more socialized childcare and better working conditions were better off overall, but the entire western world is facing a natality crisis because it truly is harder to raise a child now than it used to be. Which is absolutely bonkers because the world is also richer and more productive than at any other time in history.
The complete fracturing of children’s education post-war cannot be understated as a society-wide catastrophe.
Ironically stay-at-home mothers were already not the norm pre-war for the poors/minorities. Which participated in generational poverty as those children had a worse access to parenting and education. But the post-war middle class suddenly fell into that pattern as well, with similar results.
On top of that you’ve got the meteoric rise of car-centric urbanism, fracturing communities. It used to take a village to raise a child, now they can’t even walk across their neighborhood unsupervised because the roads aren’t safe for children. Indirectly, parents trust fewer and fewer community members to watch their children, making the task of raising small children unusually difficult and tiring.
Countries with more socialized childcare and better working conditions were better off overall, but the entire western world is facing a natality crisis because it truly is harder to raise a child now than it used to be. Which is absolutely bonkers because the world is also richer and more productive than at any other time in history.