Editor 
So, my eldest grandson, married five years now and already pushing 30, told me he didn’t want to have kids today … He said in truth, he never really did. So not only does he clearly not care about legacy or lineage, but he lied too. Where did his parents go wrong? Did I raise my own sons poorly?
He says he only makes 40k a year, and has to pay off his student loans for the next ten years. So what? He’s already married, it’s not like he needs money for a social life. But nooo, Mr. Fancy Pants wants to travel, broaden his horizons. Says he’s burnt out from not taking a vacation since his teens, and working 60 hour weeks with a two hour daily commute – the big softie! We live in the greatest country on Earth, why leave? Let alone to some dusty foreign land where you can’t even get a good steak, or watch a baseball game…
At his age, I’d already paid off a home and had three young’uns, and had a tidy savings to boot – and that was during an economic crash! Perhaps if he was better with finances and stopped ordering food in, because he has, “No time to cook” – as if such a thing exists – he’d have enough money squared away for parenting by now. You could buy a car with what he spends on transit and Uber Eats!
Ah, the selfishness of younger generations. It never ends. Always running around like headless chickens, bleeding money and time and getting their priorities all wrong. My grandson’s a good kid, don’t get me wrong, but that’s just it – he’s still a kid. You don’t even know who you are until you’ve had at least a couple of your own, so how are you supposed to know what you want?
Heck, why even marry without planning for kids? You might as well be single if you’re going to be so selfish – the real reason to date past your early 20’s is to start a family. Young Freddy’s wife is a lovely woman, but I can’t help thinking her natural maternal instinct will wrestle her mental health for years to come over the thought of not reproducing. I hope she doesn’t leave him over it – as much as it pains me to say, I could understand if she did.
It’s such a shame, and I just can’t believe he doesn’t understand how much it hurts me, no matter how often I tell him. He means well, but a life without children is a life wasted, no matter what else you do. It’s what we’re here for. Parenting be tough economically (always was), and trickier now with the Wuhan flu and all that, but the indomitable human spirit and the love of a parent always finds a way. If only these Millennials understood it.
Truthfully yours,
- Barbara O. Strich
