Reason's Ron Bailey certainly wins the week's award for best pairing of a headline and subhead with his article titled "Why are People Having Fewer Kids?" and subtitled, "Perhaps it's because they don't like them very much." Sometimes, udnerstatement is the way of wisdom. The piece is interesting, examining declining birthrates and connecting them to happiness studies showing that parents aren't happier than non-parents, and don't seem to enjoy the actual toil of childcare. Problem is, I never really know how seriously to take these happiness studies, In general, I'm an optimistic guy, and think I'd have rated my happiness an 8 both now and at most points in my life. But I'm undoubtedly happier and more satisfied now than I've been before. But I can only tell that comparatively, I don't think it would have shown up on a study in which I self-reported my happiness. Similarly, I think one of Bailey's commenters makes a good point when he says "I am guessing that if you surveyed marathon runners at various intervals during the race, they'd complain about how miserable they are. Upon crossing the finish line, they would talk about the overall achievement and how wonderful it was. Same with raising kids." And though happiness research actually shows slight lifts for parents after their kids leave the house, no parents I know seem pleased to have their kids gone, and most seem to want as much involvement as possible in their lives. This sentence is where my concluding take should go, but I really don't have one. This is more one of those posts where I'm hoping you guys will make smart comments and explain how to understand happiness research.
