Transcription
One of my most proudest accomplishments in life is not having kids. If I was to find out I was pregnant today, I would go into cardiac arrest. I'm 29 and all my friends are in their late 20s, early to mid 30s, and no one is having children. Gen Z and millennials don't want kids. So, the birth rate, the fertility rate in the US has been going down for years. It's now at a historical low. And what's really interesting when you get into the pure research underneath it is the reason people are not having kids has changed.
So, here comes another reasons why millennials and Gen Zs are no longer having kids in 2026. First of all, let's talk about it. Welcome to Naturally Gloria YouTube channel. If you're coming across my channel for the first time, my name is Gloria and this is Naturally Gloria YouTube channel. Please make sure you watch to the end. Give this video a thumbs up. Thank you.
I'm going to drop some opinions on the whole millennials aren't having kids thing as a working-class millennial. It absolutely baffles me that the government is pretending like they don't know why we're not having kids because frankly it is glaringly obvious. The economy is a [ __ ] tire fire right now. The cost of groceries, the cost and availability of baby formula, the cost of diapers, the cost of child care, the cost of giving birth in the United States averages like $14,000. I ain't got $14,000 or even really the ability to save that much money. A quick Google search told me that 73% of millennials are living paycheck to paycheck. Statistically speaking, when you're born poor in this country, you're probably going to die poor and your kids are going to be in the same boat. Being poor sucks. I don't want that for my kid. It's not that we didn't try to have better lives. A lot of us went to college and what did that get us? A bunch of us have debt that we're never going to be able to pay off. A lot of us have degrees that are almost irrelevant because the jobs that were that we were told were there when we got our degree aren't really there as as turns out. Or they are there and the people that are in those positions can't afford to retire, so they're just going to stay where they're at. Where does that put the rest of us? Entry-level jobs, retail, food, customer service. In the state that I live in, that averages like $11 to $15 an hour. And before y'all hit my comments saying that people making that little money shouldn't have kids, that's most of us.
Maternity leave basically isn't a thing, and the jobs that offer it typically offer it unpaid for like 2 weeks, which opens up a whole slew of issues because you can't afford to take that time off, so you got to go right the [ __ ] back to work. Like [ __ ] the fact that giving birth takes a huge toll on your body. The people who have C-sections, which is a major surgery, can't afford to take the recovery time. When you've got to go back to work in 2 weeks or immediately, then you don't get that critical bonding like period of time with your infant. If you're working all day, then you can't breastfeed your kid every couple of hours, so you have to depend on baby formula, which again is extremely expensive and potentially unavailable. That's how you end up with latchkey kids. That's how you end up with mommy and daddy issues and and abandonment issues because your parents are never around. If you're at work all day and don't have a family member or somebody that doesn't have to work and can watch your kid all day for free, then you've got to pay for child care, which is outrageous. In the state that I live in, the average cost of just daycare is $15.77 an hour. When you are making as little money as millennials are, child care is literally inaccessible. When you can't afford to take care of your child, that's called neglect, and you can have that child taken from you and face serious legal repercussions. Even if it wasn't your fault. Say Say baby formula wasn't available in your area, so you couldn't afford to feed your kid, so you get slapped with neglect charges. That company that couldn't provide the baby formula faces absolutely no repercussions.
And then I recently just learned about how the diaper industry is like a whole thing. Most other countries have their children potty trained by 18 months old. The US doesn't even recommend starting potty training until you're 2 years old. And when you start potty training that late, it's going to take you a while to get a hang of it, which is just more money in diaper industry pockets. What I think is going on genuinely is the government is starting to sweat the fact that their working class isn't replenishing itself. When the bubonic plague hit Europe, it knocked out like 30 to 50% of the entire population, which made workers a lot scarcer. So, they actually had to pay them more in order to convince them to come work for them, which we all know is the absolute last thing that any of these companies want to have to do. How many millennials do you know own their own house? Kudos to those of us that do, but the vast majority of us are renters or live with our parents or live with a pile of roommates. The cost of rent increases a lot every single year. I don't want to bring a child into a situation where I'm not sure I'm going to have somewhere to live in a year. It's not that we don't want to have kids. A lot of us do. In fact, I would love to have a kid with my wife, but I'm not going to have a kid in this country right now. I'm not. And this is entering conspiracy territory a little bit, but I think the government's interest in removing abortion rights and access in certain states isn't a direct response to us not having kids. They can't force us to reproduce, but they can force us to give birth. The government views us and treats us like livestock. That's why we don't want to have kids.
I'm 29 years old. I'll be 30 at the end of the year, and I do not want kids. I've always known that I don't want kids, and I am not going to change my mind. I've had a lot of moms support that and tell me, "Good for you. Like, I love being a mom, but good for you for choosing that for yourself." And if I'm being honest, it's like really like 80%, okay, of women who are super supportive, who are mothers themselves, telling me that it's okay. But that 20% of women, the bitter women, they love to tell me that I'm going to regret it, that I'm going to get old and no one's going to take care of me, that why wouldn't I want like a little version of myself? Anything to try to make me feel bad for not wanting to bring children into this world. To those bitter moms, you know what I did this morning? Okay, first of all, I woke up and it was silent. You see how silent it is right now? That's how silent it was when I woke up, okay? Silent. Um no mommy, mommy, mommy. No crying, crying, crying. No No needy child, okay? Just woke up. I washed my face, okay, cuz I was a little puffy, okay? Um I did a little skin care, a little light skin care. I put on this little outfit, okay, cuz it's kind of cold, but you know, still want to be comfortable. I put on my shoes, I put on the headphones, and I went on a walk for an hour. I walked for a whole hour. Then I walked back, again, silence. No mommy, mommy, mommy. No driving kids to school. None of that, okay? Um I took my shoes off, I did upper body, okay, in my room. Little lifting weights. Um and then I came over here, and I think I'm going to make breakfast, but either way I have to clock in soon. So, no stress this morning. No school drop-off this morning. No crying. No None of that. I just took care of me. So, no, I will never regret it. Okay?
So, most Gen Z women are saying that child care is very very expensive, and it's even more than their mortgage. It's too expensive to It's too expensive to have kids in 2026. But most people still argue Most men still argue that most women don't want to be a stay-at-home mom and raise the kid because they'd rather work, their little corporate job, and have the big houses they can't even afford. How true is this? Why is it that women these days, Gen Z women these days, no longer want to have kids? For those women saying or for those people saying, Gen Z saying, "Oh, they don't want to have kids. That child care is expensive, and it's even and it's even more expensive than their mortgage." I don't think they are wrong because having a family is expensive, especially in this day and age. But I feel like instead of having three, four, like so many people originally want wanted two, most people do stop at two. Maybe the wife or the woman will choose to stay at home and home-school the kids because daycare costs is very, very expensive. Kids have always been expensive back in the days. These days, people don't have money. Money to eat, money to take care of themselves instead of having kids. And the truth is that you can have a career and children, too. You either want to work or you want to stay at home and raise the children. Being a stay-at-home mom parents means you're not going or you're going to be making sacrifices, a lot of sacrifices. You don't get to keep an expensive lifestyle, going to party, clubs while raising children. So, you choose between having a career and having a children or having a family. A lot of women these days, a lot of women, well, not just women, but everyone, almost everyone these days have realized that having kids is quite expensive. It's very, very expensive.
If I was to find that I was pregnant today, I would go into cardiac arrest. It's got so bad, whenever I hear an announcement at work that somebody's expecting a baby, my thought is, "How? During these costly livings?" Let me tell you, if I was to have a baby today, I need to have half a mil in my savings account, minimum. Like, I'm really deep in it. Nappies, food, clothing, nursery. Nursery. These nurseries, yeah, are stealing a living. What am I hearing about nursery fees being over £1,000 a month? And if your child is sick and they can't attend nursery, you still get charged. What kind of evilness is that? The other day, I got home from the studio at night. And although I was hungry, I couldn't be bothered to cook. So, I went to bed hungry. I can't do that if I'm a mother. Firstly, I wouldn't even have the luxury of getting back home so late like I do all the time. And then to top it off, I can't starve my kid. Like, really imagine it, guys. Having a bad day and just wanted to scroll through TikTok and have a lie-in, but you can't because you have a child that needs you. As much as I really want to be a mom one day, it actually terrifies me. Especially the moms ON THIS APP, Y'ALL DON'T hold back. You guys are way too honest about your experiences. But all jokes aside, my highest respects goes out to all the mothers. I don't know how you do it.
Don't have kids. I'm going to tell you right now, don't have kids. And I'm saying this as someone who don't have kids. It's 1:24 p.m. on a Wednesday. I'm watching Freddy vs. Jason. I got my dog between my my legs napping. Listen to this. It's quiet. Ain't no backtalk. Obviously, if you want kids, this doesn't apply to you. This really applies to people who are like, do I want kids? Do I don't If you got to weigh the options, you don't want kids and that's fine. Don't Do not have them. No, trust your gut instinct. And the reason why I know I really don't want kids is because I'm fifth I was 50/50 Oh, I could have kids. Well, maybe I could You don't want to be 50/50 on bringing another human into this world. I would much rather regret not having kids than bring a human cuz it's not just a baby. It is a human being that's going to grow up and regret having them. And I can tell by some of y'all's mamas or daddies and the way you were raised, they regret having you. And that's so sad. And that's why pro-choice is so important. You should have the option to be able to decide what happens with your life. And then maybe we wouldn't have so much childhood trauma and childhood poverty. So again, if you're wishy-washy with the way the options or if a man is asking you for a child, do not have that kid. Do not have that kid. Don't have it.
One of the biggest lies that women are told about aging is that if we don't have kids, we are going to end up sad, lonely, and crying at home. Now, I'm 41 and I am on the way to meet four of my girlfriends at the opening of a spooky bookstore. After that, I'm going to head home to the Brooklyn brownstone that I own with my husband and live in with our very cute dog and just have either a cozy night in enjoying our backyard and our mortgage or maybe we'll walk over to a wine bar in our neighborhood and have a few drinks. Life is good. Don't be afraid of getting older and not having kids. I couldn't be happier being 41.
Also, as I said before, having kids is quite expensive. It's very very expensive and you can't have a career and have kids also. You make so much sacrifice to have a kid to have kids. And people these days in this time and age, people don't want sacrifice. People don't want to sacrifice and that is the problem. People worship themselves and they want to feel good all the time. Also, have the show people who got married first and then have children. And with the rate that three single mothers are beginning to get these days, the attention has been buried. I mean, this traditional family dynamic has been buried. Like, no one wants family anymore. No one wants kids anymore. Everyone just want to feel good and to a point is a good thing because even the Bible tells you to calculate the cost with to whatever you do with your life. Of course, people won't heed the guidance but will call themselves Christian with all these out of wedlock children. I agree people don't want to sacrifice what they want to raise multiple children for 18 years because every time you have one, that 18 years starts over. It's so sad what these children will experience and lack due to poor planning of their parents. Oh, lest I forget in accountability too because there is no way you could have a child and be in the streets. There's no way. You have to sacrifice your good 18 years to care for that child. And whenever people talk about daycare being very very expensive, some people do raise their brows. They'll be like, "Oh, when did daycare becomes normal? What happens to the wife staying at home or all grandparents watching the kids or the old lady down the street from the church. Like, what do you think about this? Because people always believe that family needs to family again. Because when humanity is at its most successful was when multiple generations took care of each other, living under the same roof. Yes, there were times when family lived under the same roof. But now, I think the culture is being kicked backward.
For me, I was quite clear that there are certain things in my life that I do enjoy. I do enjoy freedom of time. I do enjoy being able to be lazy when I want, and, you know, being able to be spontaneous, which is a very big part of how I keep life interesting for myself. And I also understand that parenting, a lot of that falls away.
Parents, mothers, is it worth having a child? Is it worth Is it worth it? Like, are you happy in your life having a child? Please. Like, I'm in bed right now. And I just can't stop thinking about the fact that I'm 35, my fiance is 40 40 Sorry. Is 39. And I'm still undecided, and I feel like I need another 5 years. And I just And honestly, honestly, being fully vulnerable, and I know this is not very very on brand, but I'm being vulnerable right now, and I'm I need to offload. So, here we go. I'm terrified. I am [ __ ] scared of being a parent, of being a mother, and my entire life turning upside down, and not having my freedom, and having to look after someone and keep another human alive, and not prioritizing me. And that sounds selfish, but I don't give a [ __ ] I am I am Like, this is my life. So, yeah. And I'm just like in my relationship, like that will change. And I know this is just so not on brand cuz I'm catastrophizing right now. This is what I preach against, but here we are.
One thing I've noticed with Gen Z hitting the idea of having kids, like totally getting offended by the idea of having kids, is not just because of having kids itself, but also because of the way motherhood has been portrayed for the last decades. It's often been the mother doing most of the work or it's struggling mother or it's single mother or it's mothers that are like, "Oh, I wish I could stay at home with the kids, but I have to work hours and hours." It's always [ __ ] something, even on this app, and I know social media is a reality, but even on this [ __ ] app, the happiest couples and they have the most beautiful house and then they are wealthy and then it's like, "But the guy cheats and now they have to get a divorce even though they were a happy family." People don't want the situation. Like, people just don't want the situation. They don't want the conflicts. They don't want the headache. Not just the child itself, but everything surrounding it that you just don't have control over it.
Because people always complain about the cost of having kids, but if they really want to have kids, they'll find a way to. And yeah, part of that way might be an embracing the sacrificial nature of parenthood. You're probably going to have to give up some vacations, day trips, getting your hair done weekly, going goofy with your guys, and the rest of stuff like that. But hell, you probably have to give up just about everything you wanted to do because you got to have kids and take care of those kids. And maybe these younger generations are at least acknowledging the cost and don't want to I don't know what's They are just calculating and they don't just want to Anyway, guys, let me know what you guys think in the comment section. What do you think about millennials, Gen Z's not wanting to have kids, collectively not wanting to have kids? What What think about the share opinion in the comment section. And if you are seeing my face for the first time, this is Naturally Glorai YouTube channel and I'm your host Gloria. And this is what I do on this channel, Naturally Glorai YouTube channel. If you like this kind of content, please consider subscribing to this channel. Turn on the bell notification, come back to watch more videos. I will see you guys again on my next upload. Bye.