USA Today ran a big story today about research by the National Marriage Project, which found that American culture is becoming more adult-focused "after being child-centered for decades."
According to the USA today report, the "non-partisan" National Marriage Project found that "longer life expectancy, delayed marriage and childbearing, and increased childlessness" are making child-rearing a minor aspect of society. Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, the project's codirector, was quoted as saying "it's almost as if raising children which used to become the common lot of most adults, now has become more of a niche in your life rather than one of the main features of adult life."

Sounds unsettling, raising the spectre of Vulgaria....That grim little town in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," the fictitional city that banned children and employed a creepy-looking Child Catcher to imprison them.

Except the report by The Marriage Project was entirely misleading.

What's happening is our society is aging and life expectancies have increase....so there are many more households of elderly people with no kids at home...Doesn't mean they didn't raise kids or are not still devoted to them.

In fact, all you have to do is look around and you see a culture far more dedicated to making life pleasant for children. Movie theatres now offer showings just for moms and infant. Pediatric dentists (did they even exist in the 1970s??) now offer games, videos, and all kinds of toys and rewards for their patients. Even high priced restaurants and hotels (the kind that parents wouldn't have brought their kids to decades ago) have kids' menus. It's not unusual to see parents bring their darlings to spas, Hollywood premieres, and art openings.

So what's going on with this National Marriage Project? Well google this organization, and you'll find they are far from "non-partisan," despite being housed at Rutgers University. They are squarely in the pro-marriage camp, you know the ones who said that kids would be much better off if the federal government put policies in place to encourage those moms on welfare to get married. As if single mothers were just being selfish and rejecting perfectly decent men. Stumble It!