Gaul Atreides (@gaulatreides)

Family sizes have been shrinking all over the developed world. The downstream psychological and societal impacts of only children are greatly under-appreciated by researchers. For instance, fewer children means parents have less incentive to discipline or chastise those children for bad life choices. A parent is likely to fear losing the love of an only child more than would a parent fear losing the love of one of her six children. If an only child decides to troon out, her parents might be hesitant to express much displeasure and disapproval because they don't have any other children to fill the void if that tranny-child decides to rescind her love. Something like this dynamic, on a large societal scale, has serious implications for the shape of the culture and the willingness of parents to administer tough love. Pampered only children become vehicles for cultural degeneracy by drawing in fearful parents to sustain the system.