Re: how many siblings?

Attila <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Sat, 08 Aug 2026 10:04:15 GMT, Ordatious
> <[email protected]> in alt.atheism with message-id
> <[email protected]> wrote:
[...]
> >My grandmother was the youngest in a family of 15 children, where 13 lived
> >to see adulthood.
> >
> >Yes, more common in the olden days, but not unheard of even today. I
> >believe there is a documentary on YouTube somewhere, about a family of ten
> >(was it?) children, somewhere in Great Britain, if I'm not mistaken.
> >
>
> Children were considered a financial asset,  There was
> little education, especially for girls, and children
> were expected to start providing labor at a very early age.
> With industrialization and population centralization in
> cities along with an increased level of education and higher
> standard of living children became a financial liability and
> as a result birthrates dropped.  Child labor along with
> uneducated and untrained employment availability largely
> disappeared.
> 
> This has been a constant pattern no matter what society was
> involved.
>

The biggest factor driving modern declining birthrates is the 1950's
development of reliable contraception (the Pill).  Motherhood became 
a woman's choice and it enabled modern female emancipation so that 
she could have her own career rather than being "just a homemaker".  

Sex will always be much more fun than motherhood so this gave rise 
to "free love" without consequences (other than the risk of STDs) hence
subseqent low fertility.

-- 
Sn!pe, birdbrain.         My pet rock Gordon just is.