Britons 'put fun before babies'
A headline that is supported by the following evidence:
- The poll suggested potential parents were forced to delay family life by career pressures.
- they found it increasingly difficult to find someone to have a family with
- French research suggests men's fertility fades after 40
- When asked why the birth rate in Britain was low, people pointed to the cost of living and difficulty of combining work and family life
- more than half said the cost of child rearing was a deterrent.
- Some 48% of people also blamed other social pressures such as less* couples staying together than in the past.
- 37% thought that many people now leave it too late and miss the chance to have children
Britons 'put fun before babies'
I was in conversation with some bloke the other day, whose wife has just dropped a sprog. Apparently it was a large child and wifey is a bit sore.
Bloke: As you'd know...
Gert: I know nothing of these things shrug
Bloke:Was it a long time ago?
Gert: I know nothing of these things
Bloke: What? Don't you have children? voice of surprise equivalent to reaction I owuld expected if I had said I'd taken a trip to the moon over the weekend
Gert: No
Bloke: Why's that?
Gert: That's my business
Bloke:Why's that? Don't you want children?
Gert: That's my business
Bloke: Well, there must be a reason
Gert: That's my business
Bloke: Oh...! 'be like that , then' hanging in the air
And I still can't decide which aspect of this conversation made me more angry. Except that, regardless of context/subject, it should rarely be necessary with an acquaintance (or colleague, same difference) to have to say "That's my business", it should never be necessary to have to say it twice, and it is intolerable to have to say it three times.
*fewer
