Just how bad are things with regard to the family? Check this out in an article from cnbc.com -
The typical American household has changed – and not for the better. A new analysis of U.S. Census numbers for the past 50 years show a startling decline in married couples with children – and married couples in general.
The percentage of married households with children has plummeted from 44.3 percent to 20.2 percent since 1960, while the actual number – now 23.6 million – has stayed flat, according to the report “The Amazing Decline of the Iconic Household” released last week.
“The average American household of mom, pop and two kids hasn’t been true for decades,” says Peter Francese, co-founder of American Demographics and author of the analysis. “There is not one more married couple with a child today than there was 50 years ago, and the overall number of households has more than doubled since 1960.”
Francese found that one out of five households are married couples with children, one out of 10 households are single parents, and one out of four households are non-family households (people who live together but are not related by marriage or blood).
“Non-family households have risen an astonishingly high percentage – 390 percent – in the last 50 years and are now a third of all households,” he says.
The percentage of married households with children has plummeted from 44.3 percent to 20.2 percent since 1960, while the actual number – now 23.6 million – has stayed flat, according to the report “The Amazing Decline of the Iconic Household” released last week.
“The average American household of mom, pop and two kids hasn’t been true for decades,” says Peter Francese, co-founder of American Demographics and author of the analysis. “There is not one more married couple with a child today than there was 50 years ago, and the overall number of households has more than doubled since 1960.”
Francese found that one out of five households are married couples with children, one out of 10 households are single parents, and one out of four households are non-family households (people who live together but are not related by marriage or blood).
“Non-family households have risen an astonishingly high percentage – 390 percent – in the last 50 years and are now a third of all households,” he says.
And here is something that churches have NOT spoken about. With regards to the family, one of the most silent, not-talked-about passages in the bible is found in Titus 2:
“Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, 4and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5to be self-controlled, pure, working at home. . .”(vv. 3-5).
Notice those last THREE words in verse 5: “Workers at home.” When was the last time you heard a sermon on that? When was the last time you attended a marriage and family conference that emphasized that? What do you think would happen to the pastor or conference speaker who did speak about the need for women with children to stop furthering their careers outside their home and instead be “workers at home?”
The article goes on to point out: “The Amazing Decline of the Iconic Household” report points to more women entering the workforce as a major factor in the drop of married couples with children households.
Notice that! The report says, “a major factor!”
If a pastor preached on this you know what he would also have to emphasize as one of the major reasons why women with children put their home second to their careers? “A lack of self-control!” Notice that before Paul said for young women to be workers at home, he prefaces it with these words: “to be self-controlled and pure.” Many moms are driven by their need to become liberated. Landing their own jobs, making their own money, earning their own paycheck, spending their own money, which drives them to lose self-control and out of the realm of purity. Who suffers? Their families do. This is what the report is telling us!
If a pastor preached on this you know what he would also have to emphasize as one of the major reasons why women with children put their home second to their careers? “A lack of self-control!” Notice that before Paul said for young women to be workers at home, he prefaces it with these words: “to be self-controlled and pure.” Many moms are driven by their need to become liberated. Landing their own jobs, making their own money, earning their own paycheck, spending their own money, which drives them to lose self-control and out of the realm of purity. Who suffers? Their families do. This is what the report is telling us!
But there’s more. The report goes on: “Also, I think the invention in the early 1960s of the birth control pill gave women total control over their fertility,” adds Francese.
That, coupled with women finding more work opportunities outside the home more, made marriage less of a financial requirement for females. “In every decade over the past five, marriage has become less of an economic necessity for women,” says Francese.
Thus, having the control over when to have children and working outside the home has made marriage less appealing to women.
That, coupled with women finding more work opportunities outside the home more, made marriage less of a financial requirement for females. “In every decade over the past five, marriage has become less of an economic necessity for women,” says Francese.
Thus, having the control over when to have children and working outside the home has made marriage less appealing to women.
Maggie Gallagher, chairman of the National Organization for Marriage based in Washington, D.C., says there are a few more reasons for the decrease. “Divorce rates are high, unmarried childbearing rates are going through the roof, and people are having fewer children overall than they did in the fifties and sixties. … Overall we’ve become a less child-centered and family focused culture. We’ve separated sex, love, marriage and children to an extraordinary degree.”
The sharp drop in married couples with children does not simply correspond to a rise in empty-nesters, says Francese. “Over the past 50 years, married households with no kids only grew at less than one-third (104 percent) the rate of all households that were not married couples (350 percent),” he points out.
Why should we care if married couples with or without children have decreased so significantly?
“For the first time in American history, married couples in general have dropped below 50 percent, which means that the whole concept of marriage is in question,” says Francese. “These numbers point to a major avoidance of something that virtually every American used to do – marry.”
Gallagher comments, “Sex, babies and marriage are not just intensely personal matters – they are civilizational ones, too.” When you add children to the mix, the stakes are even higher.
“Children are our future,” says Gallagher. “When a civilization becomes sexually disorganized, it cannot seem to channel the erotic energy of the young into making stable, loving marriages in which to raise children.
“The result is a large increase in social problems, an increasingly large government that steps in to try to solve these problems, more suffering for children, and lower levels of happiness for adults, especially for women. If the trends continue long enough, it calls into question the capacity of the society or civilization to transmit itself into the future.”
“The kids are going to be weaker in all aspects – mental health, IQ, disease, crime, addictions, grade point averages – in families that are not intact, that do not have a biological mother and father married,” he says. “These changes [in household makeup] are impacting many things, such as Social Security and the current fiscal crisis.”
Economically speaking, the lower number of married couples with children translates into a low, sometimes negative, growth in median income.
“The reason for this is simple: Most married couples with children have two earners and the highest median household income of any household type,” says Francese.
Having fewer married couples raising children and more single and non-family units raising children will impact U.S. policy and politics, both Gallagher and Fagan say.
“Social scientists and economists can tell you that we are growing more and more dependent on government because of more non-intact families,” Fagan notes. “We’re growing government instead of growing families.”
The sharp drop in married couples with children does not simply correspond to a rise in empty-nesters, says Francese. “Over the past 50 years, married households with no kids only grew at less than one-third (104 percent) the rate of all households that were not married couples (350 percent),” he points out.
Why should we care if married couples with or without children have decreased so significantly?
“For the first time in American history, married couples in general have dropped below 50 percent, which means that the whole concept of marriage is in question,” says Francese. “These numbers point to a major avoidance of something that virtually every American used to do – marry.”
Gallagher comments, “Sex, babies and marriage are not just intensely personal matters – they are civilizational ones, too.” When you add children to the mix, the stakes are even higher.
“Children are our future,” says Gallagher. “When a civilization becomes sexually disorganized, it cannot seem to channel the erotic energy of the young into making stable, loving marriages in which to raise children.
“The result is a large increase in social problems, an increasingly large government that steps in to try to solve these problems, more suffering for children, and lower levels of happiness for adults, especially for women. If the trends continue long enough, it calls into question the capacity of the society or civilization to transmit itself into the future.”
“The kids are going to be weaker in all aspects – mental health, IQ, disease, crime, addictions, grade point averages – in families that are not intact, that do not have a biological mother and father married,” he says. “These changes [in household makeup] are impacting many things, such as Social Security and the current fiscal crisis.”
Economically speaking, the lower number of married couples with children translates into a low, sometimes negative, growth in median income.
“The reason for this is simple: Most married couples with children have two earners and the highest median household income of any household type,” says Francese.
Having fewer married couples raising children and more single and non-family units raising children will impact U.S. policy and politics, both Gallagher and Fagan say.
“Social scientists and economists can tell you that we are growing more and more dependent on government because of more non-intact families,” Fagan notes. “We’re growing government instead of growing families.”
Fagan urges Christians to do more to uphold the sanctity of marriage, both publicly and privately.
“There’s an abandonment of pastors and parents in teaching [Christian principles on this subject]. … We need to help each other to repent and reform our thoughts and actions on marriage.”
“There’s an abandonment of pastors and parents in teaching [Christian principles on this subject]. … We need to help each other to repent and reform our thoughts and actions on marriage.”
