It' not just a kingdom.
It's objectively harder today to raise bigger family.
You can start with cost of living crisis. Starter home are way expensive than few decades before. It times more salaries now to afford home than before.
Capital gain taxes combined with inflation plus raised mortage rates means seniors staying in multiple bedroom houses instead of selling them to younger families.
Housing also got hit with more regulation generally. Enjoy more higher prices.
Don't forget equality issue where certain groups of people are prosecuted enough and send to jail. So now city center when everything is relatively close are off limits due to crime and eveybody moves to suburbs. Enjoy paying for car and eveything taking more times.
Social relationships got commericalized. What way before social favour and social currency was replaced with money. Advice from friend was replaced by therapist, gradma by nanny. What came before free, now costs money.
So young people face higher costs and they have less social support.
And people have become less accepting of children in public. They misbehave, are loud etc.. Other people in public have to watch/listen parents trying to control their children. If parents see looks of disapproval, it will negatively influence decision for next child.
My favourite reason is this BS:
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While they do save individual children, 3rd child means buying bigger car. So actually more parents decide not to have 3rd child than are saved by child car seat in accidents. They prevent more births than save from car accidents.
And some countries force you to drive in child in child car seat till they are seven.
My brother, when he had two children, drove me in regular car. I was sitting between two child car seats. Now, he has three children, had to repla e regular car with SUV and I don't to be placed in trunk. In good old times 4 persons could be placed in back seats, nobody cared, now you earn fine by police.
I have found stories of Americans remembering how they used to roam neighboorhood and find their own fun in 90s. Now, that is visit by child protective services. So now you have to organize play dates with other parents so that children can play. See, before children did find their own fun, now that parent's duty.
So if child requires constant watching, if each child has different hobby, you have to hire a nanny.
And don't get me started on Boomers who prefer cruises over watching grandchildren.
And church failed in another way. Before, you could hire young (usually teenage) girl as nanny for pocket money. Desire to keep reputation in church and community was guarantee of acceptable level of service.
Now, you can't count on that. So pay for proffesional nanny. And maybe you finish responsible for her W2 employment form.
And since USA is in decade long economic stagnation, social mobility start to die off, so parents, naturally, prefer less children so that each child can have more educational resources. Otherwise, child will fall to lower social class and no parents wants that.
So solution is to rebuild social fabric to have real communities, nuking regulations and taxes and government budget and restoring intermediate organizations. Nisbet, in his work "Quest for Community" basically say totalitarianism in West was impossible thanms to intermediate organizations. They were larger than individual and smaller than state.
They matter because they provided social cohesion and mutual help. Snd protected individuals against state. Church used to provide that. Good church with several hundred regulars should be able to provide a llllllloooooootttttt of help with children.
We can start with other children for playing, other parents who can be counted not to harm your children (so your children can sleep over there, don't require constant attention, you do owe favour too), somebody who already faced similar problem with their children (behaviour, medical issues)
