American families

NY Times -    The sheer logistical and financial madness of raising children in America is now officially a matter of political concern.  The mayors of New York and San Francisco, two cities in which large families have become practically an endangered species, have pledged major efforts to make child care free. Last November, New Mexico became the first state in the country to cover child care for all its residents. High-profile Democratic strategists like David Plouffe are encouraging the party to adopt universal child care as an official part of its platform in 2028....

The challenge and cost of caring for children is hardly new for the American family. Since the 1970s, when women began an astonishing three-decade surge into the workplace, individual households have been reinventing the configurations of work and family. Without public assistance, parenting has become increasingly privatized — an expensive, stressful endeavor that many households manage alone. Half a century into this shift, the American family is buckling under the weight. In 2024, the U.S. surgeon general declared parental stress a public health crisis.

The numbers tell an alarming story: In one survey, 48 percent of parents said that most days their stress is completely overwhelming, compared with 26 percent of other adults, a gap that has grown over the last decade. Another poll found that seven in 10 Americans say that raising children is unaffordable, an increase of 20 percent points over the last decade. Indeed, the cost of child care has more than tripled since 1990, far outpacing the rise in wages. To be a parent in America is to race constantly in vain against the clock. In a recent survey of parents of young children under 6, nearly three in four said they wished they had more quality time with their children. Instead, many are working, too crunched financially to contemplate having more hours to enjoy family life.