Questions for Moms and Dads on Mother’s Day

[Geee]

Daily Signal

Many Americans could affirm what Abraham Lincoln is supposed to have said: “All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.”

Unfortunately, moms and dads increasingly deemphasize marriage and parenting, instead choosing to focus on paid work. This Mother’s Day, we should reject the culture and affirm the importance of motherhood itself.

The starkest evidence of deemphasis comes in the form of a survey of parents by Pew Research Center. Respondents were asked whether specific goals for their children—financial independence, jobs or careers they enjoy, a college degree, marriage, and children—were extremely important, very important, somewhat important, not too important, or not at all important.

Fully 88% said financial independence and careers they enjoy are in the top two categories, while only about 20% said marriage and children are in the top two categories. Almost 46% of parents said that marriage and children aren’t too important or are not at all important.

 

Children seem to be picking up on these priorities. Many are delaying marriage, or they never get married. According to the Census Bureau, the median age of marriage has gone from 20 to 28 for women and 23 to 30 for men in just a few generations.

As of 2021, a record high 25% of 40-year-olds never had been married, up from just 6% in 1980. The reasons are complex, but undoubtedly our culture’s emphasis of work over family is part of the picture.

[Valin]

@Geee