The Evolving Social Context of Parenting

Being a parent isn’t going to get any easier in the future.
The Evolving Social Context of Parenting
Being a parent isn’t going to get any easier in the future. rawpixel/Unsplash
Mark Hendrickson
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Procreation has been one of the few constants throughout history. Indeed, it is the sine qua non of human existence—no procreation, no human race.

For centuries, it wasn’t unusual for a wife to be pregnant a dozen times or more. It involved little planning, but was more like a biological imperative, impelled by the survival instinct. It was a numbers game: A certain percentage of pregnancies did not culminate in live births, and due to malnutrition, poor sanitation, and the ravages of disease, many children didn’t survive until adulthood. The hope was that two or three children would make it to adulthood and be able to care for their parents during their senior years.

Mark Hendrickson
Mark Hendrickson
contributor
Mark Hendrickson is an economist who retired from the faculty of Grove City College in Pennsylvania, where he remains fellow for economic and social policy at the Institute for Faith and Freedom. He is the author of several books on topics as varied as American economic history, anonymous characters in the Bible, the wealth inequality issue, and climate change, among others.
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