another thing with the great "young people aren't making babies!" complaint;
Everyone's noticed millenial parents don't really have the resources for kids. But traditionally the answer to "young parents don't have time or energy to keep up with kids" is "and grandparents DO." How many millenials are physically close to, on good terms with and trust their parents?
@Leucrotta Our mum has a bit of health issues coming up and I wouldn't want to burden her while she's busy with everything else, and she's essentially raised us by herself. Our dad just can't be trusted around children.
@TheTenuousOrder Winds up being more personally relevant than I thought; my ex REALLY wanted kids, and I was nowhere near as committed to the idea. Despite that disagreement both of us agreed no hypothetical kids would go anywhere NEAR my folks or the ex's mother.
@Leucrotta also I think a lot of that older generation were distanced enough from the "traditional family lifestyle" because of society changing that they don't want to be parents a second time around, they wanna be independent and do their own things. So even if they're on good terms with their kids they'll be occasional babysitters, not full time!