In short: We space having our children out based on our needs. A college educated woman will, on average, have her first baby at 30.3 years old (32.3 for dad). More women are in the workforce, which has changed the traditional parenthood structure; now, there is no new script on how to divvy up rearing. Children don't work anymore, we work for them. Our goal is to have happy children, a phenomenon that came up in the 1970s, as we were all finally living well, creating a new desire for self-actualization. Father's now do three time site child care than they did in the 1970s, and a reporting more workplace conflict than before--meaning a higher desire to be involved in parenting.
CBS This Morning Show, June 14th, 2014, and more from Jennifer Senior's book at NPR
