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gingerisla t1_ixal07a wrote

Reply to comment by Beli_Mawrr in ‘Without enough Latvians, we won’t be Latvia’: eastern Europe’s shrinking population | Latvia’s population is 30% smaller than it was in 1990 and by 2050 numbers will be in decline in over half of Europe’s 52 countries. by mossadnik

Fuck that, it shouldn't be anyone's "duty" to raise kids. Can't think of a worse reason to have children. Look at Ceaușescu's Romania or Nazi Germany where they made having kids a patriotic duty and see what happened.

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Beli_Mawrr t1_ixalcri wrote

Yeah, when I was writing this, I was thinking to the USSR, who even so far as gave an award to mothers (which to me seems a little bit weird but you gotta do what you gotta do). I'm not taking a strong stance on whether or not it should be encouraged, but I am saying that hand wringing about it is probably not going to do anything effective.

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alex20_202020 t1_ixba7em wrote

> gave an award to mothers

meaning medals? otherwise many states award mothers with monetary stimulus like retaining salary payment w/out working. and IMO one time payments is not that different.

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YWAK98alum t1_ixcurjv wrote

>Can't think of a worse reason to have children.

Then you lack imagination. Unfortunately, there definitely are worse reasons than civic or religious duty to have kids. Having a child because you think that it will save a failing relationship, for example.

The upside of framing it as a civic or religious duty is that it helps build the village around the family. When the rest of the community (political or religious) accepts that raising the next generation is an important obligation, it changes the mindset about helping, and parents can't be islands. Extended social support networks matter. Those communities are more likely to help with something that's a duty than something that's a personal choice (kids as vanity possessions).

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