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Less and Less Chance to Become a Grandmother — Why is This?

Katharine Valentino
Middle-Pause
Published in
5 min readJan 27, 2025

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Baby holding a alphabet block to their mouth
Photo by Colin Maynard on Unsplash

My Mom took me to the grocery store when I was a kid, and almost every grocery cart had a baby or toddler in the child seat and at least one older brother or sister tagging along behind. Today, I can spend half an hour filling my grocery cart full and only see three or four kids of any age in the aisles or the checkout counters.

Fewer women are giving birth these days. In the time I’m remembering, the 1950s, a grandma usually had at least three grandkids to brag about. Today, women of a certain age have, on average, one or two, and some have none.

Why is this?

Up until yesterday, I thought that fewer babies are born now than when I was born because I was in the abnormally large baby boomer generation. Baby boomers were the result of almost five million soldiers coming home from WWII and reuniting with wives they hadn’t seen in years.

However, when I opened my email yesterday, I found a survey by YouGov titled “Is Having Kids Still Worth It?” YouGov is the world’s largest public opinion and data company, and I often complete their surveys. This one opened my eyes to other reasons for there being fewer babies these days.

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Published in Middle-Pause

We are the voices of women who encourage, inspire, and empower each other to live lives of meaning and purpose. We are women in the middle.

Katharine Valentino
Katharine Valentino

Written by Katharine Valentino

Still trying for the words to help us do & feel good things. Owner of Reviews for Medium Featured Books. I write life stories & about politics / social issues.

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