I’ve had this discussion with my wife. The fact is although the world overall is safer, thanks to mass media and the internet, we hear about every horrible crime that occurs much faster.
Also, people are having fewer children. When you sink more time, energy and resources into one or two children, you’re more likely to fret for their safety. I’m not saying parents with four or five wouldn’t freak out to lose a child. But it’s much easier to make a rational decision to take on a very small risk that your 9 year old will get abducted walking to school alone when yo uhave three other kids to worry about vs. when that’s your only child.[/quote]
This is absolutely true. Many of our ancestors had 5+ kids (not including the ones who died in infancy or at very young ages). Many of my ancestors had 10+ kids, most of whom were born as additional labor for the family farms. There is a huge difference between that and having one or two kids around whom your life revolves.
[quote=spdrun]The same level of paranoia doesn’t exist in other Western societies, which often have lower fertility rates than the US.[/quote]
IMO, Americans are also more controlled by the media/powers-that-be. We’re not trained to think for ourselves and analyze things objectively. To the contrary, we’re taught that people who think for themselves are probably crazy or have something wrong with them.
