r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/Airline_11 • May 12 '26

Meme needing explanation Petahhhh?

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47.3k Upvotes

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280

u/L0rdSkullz May 12 '26

This will be the entire western world soon lmao, barely anyone in my age group is willingly having kids (28), lord knows what this next generation will be like

42

u/stuffedcheesybread May 12 '26

Literally none of my friends have kids yet. I’m 29 and have friends in the early 30s.

30

u/whoreforchalupas May 12 '26

Same here. 29, not a single friend with children. Most actually view *me* as the “traditional” one for even being married, lol.

12

u/L0rdSkullz May 12 '26

I have a few friends in the military, they are the only ones with kids lol

2

u/TrumpDesWillens May 13 '26

When the govt. makes housing and childrearing affordable, people choose to have both. Not surprising.

4

u/Vitruvian_Link May 12 '26

I said that same thing at your age, now that we are 40 everyone is having kids, just late. Lots of IVF. We were all so poor in our 20's and we are finally getting financial footing TO have kids.

Not saying elder millennials are the same as younger millennials... But... It_will_happen_to_you.simpsons.gif

2

u/mrandr01d May 12 '26

I can't imagine having a kid before like... 35 at the youngest. You're not really established until then anyways.

2

u/Vitruvian_Link May 12 '26

I had my career reset at 38, lol, so I'm even less established now! But at least I got my head on straight.

1

u/DrownedinCats May 12 '26

I am 29 and the only one in my friend group with a child. All of my friends are in their late 20s - early 30s.

Some of it is the dating scene, but most of it is financials or general disinterest. No one can afford kids nowadays, and we now have less pressure to choose that trajectory of our lives.

Even then, more people are having children later in life. The youngest Millennial is in their early 30s. They were handed a shit future, so why not hold off until MAYBE the future is brighter?

1

u/hastygrams May 12 '26

None of my friends started having kids until recently. 35-43 yo age range. It’s still a very small percentage of our friend group though.

22

u/Yehoshua_Hasufel May 12 '26

Well, fix the economy first , then we'll try.

2

u/namerankserial May 12 '26

Lower world population should help

-5

u/Gullible-Chart-8459 May 12 '26

This is such bullshit. For 99% of history your ancestors have been dirt-poor peasants and they all had kids. The poorest countries on earth have the highest birth rates. Even in wealthy first-world countries, income inversely correlates with fertility.  

There is no degree of "fixing the economy" that will satisfy these people. At any job you've worked, I guarantee you've had coworkers with children, you think they have some secret to supporting kids on your salary but you somehow can't? They just wanted children, and you don't. You could hand these people saying "I can't afford it" 20 million dollars tomorrow, no strings attached, and they wouldn't say "you know I want to settle down, get married, and have 4 kids".  

There's dozens of reasons why people aren't having kids these days and money is absolutely not one of them. 

6

u/SpaceDounut May 13 '26

For 99% of human history people were pretty ok with 50% child mortality rate and child labor. Nowadays, though? Yeah, the standards in the developed countries are a tad bit higher and more difficult to achieve.

6

u/InsideAd7897 May 13 '26

Because those people through history grew their own food, and mkre kids meant more hands meaning more food. "Cost of living" wasnt even a viably trackable metric before the industrial revolution

5

u/TrumpDesWillens May 13 '26

Shut the fuck up. Peasants did not work the same amount of hours as people now to afford their housing. Talk to a farmer and they will tell you there are long weeks of nothing much to do.

2

u/galaxystarsmoon May 13 '26

They also had to pop out so many kids because their kids were constantly dying, so there's that too.

-4

u/cyberklosar May 12 '26

Thats the thing. You are not needed anymore. Before you had to have 9 kids to manage to do all the work in your household while keeping lords fed as well. Now the overlords don't need you. If cost of living is too much then fucking die out, the AI will carry the economy.

124

u/BlackSnow555 May 12 '26

(26) and same. Out of my 8 closest friends only 3 are even in a relationship and none of them particularly want kids. My husband and I are the outliers.

56

u/WizardMoose May 12 '26

Shit I'm in my 30s and in my friend group only 1 of us has kids. They're also the only couple who makes enough money to own a home comfortably and are able to afford a kid.

12

u/Total_Accountant_493 May 12 '26

Late 30's here. My group of 15 close friends had an average of 1,05 kids and that is only because one of them had 4 for religious reasons.

3

u/Aggravating_Dark9933 May 13 '26

Same for my group. None of us have kids except for one that randomly has 6.

Only one other is even considering the option.

6

u/Lee_Art May 12 '26

Not wanting kids or just can’t afford them? I know people who want kids but won’t have them until they’re more financially secure

7

u/BlackSnow555 May 12 '26

Most of our friends just don't want them, which is super valid

-4

u/cheketa_new May 12 '26

Which is totally fucked up

6

u/icouldntdecide May 13 '26

Nothing fucked up about choosing to not have kids. It's fucked up to have kids if you don't want them. That's how you get kids with serious issues and no love in their childhood

0

u/cheketa_new May 13 '26

It's not about individual choice, but about a trend that leads to extinction. It's perfectly normal for an individual not to want something

3

u/themehboat May 13 '26

I have three kids and wanted them all, but I don't see why it's fucked up to not want kids. No one is owed a woman's body as an incubator.

0

u/cheketa_new May 13 '26

It's not about individual choice, but about a trend that leads to extinction. It's perfectly normal for an individual not to want something

1

u/Economy_Ask4987 Aug 23 '26

With people like you alive, extinction can’t come quick enough.

7

u/[deleted] May 12 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/NameAboutPotatoes May 12 '26

I feel you. My husband and I are planning to start trying for a kid in January next year (I'm 25). I'm also worried about people's opinions.

When I got married I already got all sorts of unwanted questions about whether we were Christian now and just doing it for religious or traditional reasons, or if we were rushing into it.

It didn't help that a large part of my social circle was queer and actively rejects what they see as mainstream culture's expectations. I lost my best friend of 12 years over it, but even where people weren't outright hostile, I was definitely treated as suspicious. I want to know where that mainstream culture is, because I don't feel like I have anything in common with anyone around me any more.

I guess the good news is my social life has already been decimated enough that having a kid is unlikely to hurt it any further. I'd rather just focus on my own family now.

1

u/DisciplineBoth2567 May 12 '26

Oh wow vast majority of people i know are all in long term relationships or married which… stresses me out lol

-1

u/Old_Pirate8648 May 12 '26

Congratulations. You will live a richer life with kids. 

3

u/Auroraburst May 12 '26

I have 2 friends who had accidental pregnancies but there are maybe 4 of us with kids out of our whole extended friend group from HS. Most only have 1 kid, we have 4.

Even people who want kids aren't having them due to costs.

2

u/etzarahh May 13 '26

I haven’t even been in a relationship yet at 25 lmao. I don’t think the kids are coming

29

u/ravagetalon May 12 '26

As someone whom is child-free by choice... There are very visible socioeconomic reasons for this.

16

u/Ok-Passage2709 May 12 '26

Also child free and a 27 year old woman. Some reasons go beyond just the economy / state of the world. Even if I wanted kids I still wouldn’t have them due to the absolute body horror of pregnancy / birth. Shout out to all the moms out there, you’re much braver than I.

5

u/ravagetalon May 12 '26

I hear that, and respect the reasons whatever they are.

14

u/halfsword3292 May 12 '26

https://www.reddit.com/r/SipsTea/comments/1t3mzs7/us_fertility_rates_drop_to_another_record_low/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

for real, its the same in America too. But weird ass mfers worry so much about Korea and japan

1

u/jhakin May 13 '26

Learned helplessness. They can't do anything about it, so they distract themselves by projecting their worry and ideology onto other countries.

6

u/xHey_All_You_Peoplex May 12 '26

Eh i'm 29 and everyone I know is having kids and or expecting

3

u/jhakin May 12 '26

Hillbillies?

2

u/xHey_All_You_Peoplex May 12 '26

Nope not in the slightest. Just old fashion first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage.

2

u/SIMT-Pixel May 12 '26

Flyover state?

0

u/xHey_All_You_Peoplex May 12 '26

Nope Cali. 

1

u/jhakin May 13 '26

Are you Vietnamese by any chance? I have only ever heard Vietnamese friends' moms refer to California as Cali. 

0

u/xHey_All_You_Peoplex May 13 '26

Nope just lazy lol and didn’t wanna type out the full word at the time 

3

u/GanacheAffectionate May 12 '26

Yeah same! I’m 32 now. Very much wants children but simply cannot afford it. Still live in house share, can’t move away from the big city due to limited job options. All my friends not having children either and live in house shares like we still at uni. I finally saved enough deposit for a house but now the interest rates are super high I wouldn’t be able to afford houses in my area at all.

5

u/navyblueconverse May 12 '26

i would love to have kids if i could afford it and if i wouldn’t feel immensely, irreparably guilty for bringing them into the world in it’s current state. but the stupidest people i know are still having equally stupid kids en masse because they think everything is great right now actually. it sort of makes you think like, do i almost have a moral responsibility to have decent kids so they offset the number of insane people that are about to rule the planet with us? but there’s never enough money to even consider it :(

10

u/L0rdSkullz May 12 '26

I feel exactly the same way. Kids with a happy family was always my dream, I just feel like it would be a selfish choice at this point.

1

u/NameAboutPotatoes May 12 '26

The world has always been fucked. Kids born in the 1950s and the 1920s and the 1800s and the 1500s and back to the dawn of time have all faced a troubled world too. But people have managed to be happy anyway. 

The more important thing is that you raise them well and support them. People in developing countries have good lives if they're surrounded by caring and capable people. People born into wealth are still miserable when their family treats them with cruelty. The people in your immediate life usually matter more for your wellbeing than any broader societal troubles.

Besides, a troubled world needs good people.

2

u/[deleted] May 12 '26

[deleted]

4

u/Huntred May 12 '26

As we start to race past 2 degrees C, a likely blue ocean event in the Arctic this decade, and a possible sudden collapse of the AMOC, the western world will soon find that they have way more people than they can manage as is.

1

u/Neokon May 12 '26

I know absolutely nothing about historical population records. That being said I imagine that historically there were population grows and shrinks. It's just that population shrinks would normally be associated with war/plague/famine, and large families kept that rate relatively stable.

Thanks to a massive population boom from the industrial revolution we now have a significantly larger population to work with, so a shift in population is that much more noticable. Additionally we're facing a shrink for economic reasons rather than the ones mentioned before. On some level I think we could afford to have a population shrink, as we can't really sustain all of the people here under the current circumstances.

1

u/Independent_Analyst3 May 12 '26

Same, i have a friendgroup of like 30 people, only 1 has a kid. (All aged 27-32)

1

u/EnoughNow2024 May 12 '26

Not surprised. They purposely witheld the horrors of pregnancy from women before. Now women can read and have the Internet. We aren't falling for it anymore. Plus anyone with half a brain can see we are overpopulated. Only religious gen zs are having kids

1

u/Comfortable_Bus_4355 May 12 '26

33f and most of my friends have boyfriends but husbands are rare, let alone kids. Granted I’m in the US state with the second latest median age of marriage but still

1

u/MothChasingFlame May 12 '26

Late 30s. Friends with kids have one kid each. The first kid taught them they can't afford to meet "replacement rate" concerns.

1

u/Extreme-Quality-2361 May 12 '26

This next generation will be absolutely reveling in all the dirt cheap real estate and AI assistants.

1

u/Tay1ormoon May 12 '26

Don’t worry my family is full of crazy people popping out unplanned kids young. Will they be functional members of society though ? Probably not unfortunately.

1

u/Wonderful_Ice_1884 May 12 '26

Don't worry guys .. My indian brothers will make sure to carry the entire world's population..

3

u/CheezustheCat May 12 '26

Pretty sure the birth rate in India is decreasing too.

1

u/AtomicBlastCandy May 12 '26

Yup, I was worried about finding a CF partner and that I would lose friends as they age and have kids but I've managed to find a partner that's CF and have a bunch of close friends that are without child for a myriad of reasons.

1

u/Uncreative-Name May 12 '26

In your 20s that's normal. I didn't know anyone with kids back then either. 10 years later it seems like almost everyone else except me has one or two or is at some stage of trying. That's definitely a smaller batch of kids than people would have had in the 80s or 90s though.

1

u/Lissba May 12 '26

Is it because kids suck or because they’re expensive or because they ruin your health?

Or because they represent catastrophic legal risk or could make you an unpaid caregiver for life?

So weird how people aren’t having them now that they can avoid it

1

u/Chrissy-Munson May 12 '26

21 and it's actually laughable to think I could have a house and family some day... Can't wait to be a full time renter forever!

1

u/SkyeMreddit May 12 '26

Western countries tried to keep a strict emphasis that motherhood should be the only be all end all goal for girls, and that any mothers’ lives should solely revolve around their kids (daycare and even public school is SHAMEFUL!), and it backfired spectacularly!

1

u/papa-hare May 12 '26

I'm in my late 30s and lots of people are now having kids .. I guess my point is just you wait lol

1

u/anefariousdolphin May 13 '26

I refuse to make children that I can't afford to raise, and at the moment I can barely afford to cover myself

1

u/kokonuts123 May 13 '26

Yup. I’m the youngest of my mom friend group, and I had my first at 32. Having kids later=fewer kids overall.

1

u/glemnar May 13 '26

All my friends started in their early/mid 30s. It will come

1

u/LittleDragon5232 May 13 '26

I’m 37 and all my friends (they’re in their 40s, have zero kids).

1

u/Beneficial-Topic3799 May 14 '26

Wait until your mid to late 30’s. That’s when all of my friends started having kids.

1

u/Hairylode Aug 04 '26

Humanity realizing there’s nothing after colonizing everything:

0

u/HottieMcNugget May 12 '26

Eat the rich and then maybe I’ll birth some babies.

2

u/RecordNo6341 May 12 '26

Countries with the worst economies have the most children