There is an abundance of evidence that the golden age of children experienced by Baby Boomers is not only over, but that we have moved into the age of the radical devaluation of children in America. Consider the following:
The Anti-Child Bias Of Contemporary Media - Fifty years ago virtually every popular television show portrayed families with children: "My Three Sons," "The Andy Griffith Show," "Father Knows Best," "The Danny Thomas Show," "The Dick Van Dyke Show," "Lucy," etc. Today almost all primetime shows are adult-centric. It is the rare primetime show in which a child appears at all. And it is indisputable that TV shows over the last 50 years have become substantially more violent, more vulgar and more saturated with sexually-laden jokes and explicit sexual activity.
Fewer Adults Are Having Children - Thirty years ago only one out of 10 women over the age of 40 was childless. Today one out of five women over the age of 40 is childless. Thirty years ago nearly 75% of women between the ages of 25 and 29 had a child; today, that number is less than 50%.
Fewer Adults Want Children - An Atlantic Magazine article summarized a recent study of Wharton Business School graduates. The Wharton Business School (from the University of Pennsylvania) has surveyed its grads on work and life issues for the last quarter of a century. In 1992 more than 80% of male and female Wharton grads said they intended to have children. Today half that number have a similar intention. Children are no longer seen as part of the equation for living a happy, successful life. More and more, ambitious young adults believe that children get in the way of life's real measures of success: career and wealth.
The American Workplace Is Increasingly Hostile To Working Families - There is no doubt that employers are demanding more hours and more productivity from reduced workforces. Many employees are required to work at least 50 hours a week. In management positions as well as in many professions 60+ hours is considered normal. No thought is given to the impact of long work hours upon the employee's children or spouse. The effect of employment demands upon people's families is simply not considered to be the employer's concern.
Regarding the workplace, America is the only industrialized country in the world that does not offer paid leave when a woman delivers a baby. So, cash-strapped mothers and fathers are forced to quickly return to the workplace after having a baby. A mother and father's ability to bond with their newborn is, again, not considered to be the employer's (or our government's) concern. In fact, The Pregnancy Leave Act that permits 12 weeks of unpaid leave after a woman delivers a baby only applies to large businesses who employ over 50 employees. So a mother is not entitled to any time off (even unpaid) to have a baby in many smaller businesses. Most companies' sick leave policy also does not apply to caring for a sick child. Children, at least for many American businesses, should somehow be able to take care of themselves.
America Has The Most Liberal Divorce Laws In The Western World - We Americans love to think of ourselves as morally traditional while we consider Europeans to be libertine in their sexual and family ethics. Nothing could be further from the truth. Americans are far more religious than are Europeans, but Europeans are more morally traditional than Americans.
So, for example, Germany requires a three-year waiting period before a couple with children can divorce without cause. Almost all states in the United States have allowed no-fault divorce for couples with children for the past three decades. The fact that children will be ripped out of their homes and neighborhoods by the divorce of their parents is not taken into account by American courts. Children have no rights under contemporary U.S. divorce laws. The only thing that U.S. divorce law considers is the adults' happiness.
The Wealth Gap Between The Elderly And The Young Is The Greatest In US History - in the past, elderly people were the poorest demographic in America because they no longer worked. Young families with children were less likely than the old to be impoverished. Now, the least likely people to be in poverty are the elderly. They have a great social safety net with guaranteed Social Security and Medicare. These two social programs for adults are considered to be untouchable. The elderly have a powerful lobby in AARP. Politicians talk about Social Security and Medicare being put in a "lock box." There is simply no lobby of similar clout working on behalf of children.
Sadly, it has become commonplace for school levies to be voted down and school budgets to be slashed. It is no longer considered to be scandalous for schools to cut their music, art or extracurricular programs, to eliminate AP classes, to eliminate busing to school, or to have classes of 35+ children.
American Adults Are Running Up A Trillion Dollars Of Government Debt Every Year And Passing The Debt To Our Children And Grandchildren - How can we think of ourselves as a moral society when we are willing to presently consume and charge the debt for our consumption to our children?
America Has Some Of The Most Liberal Abortion Laws In The World - We permit abortions well-beyond the limits of every European country. In permitting abortions beyond the point of viability, the United States is in the company of only three other countries in the world, China, North Korea and Canada.
Seventy-five years ago Dietrich Bonhoeffer said: The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children. By that test, the question must be asked whether 21st century America is still a moral nation.