Rather than struggling to rebalance the division of labor between breadwinning and caregiving, why not spread the roles out more broadly among a greater number of committed adults?
HMM YEAH WHY NOT HMMMMMM
“Given all of the physical, financial, mental, and emotional labors of raising children,” a college professor colleague of mine explained to me, “why wouldn’t you want to spread that around?” He spent over a decade as one of three legal parents to his now adult twins, and although he believes the arrangement worked out well for everyone involved, he preferred to remain anonymous because formal tri-parenting is still so rare.
We used to fucking do that before capitalism crammed us all into nuclear families, and now that capitalism has entered decay we’re finding out that we need extended families. But do they recommend moving in with parents or siblings? Nah. If families didn’t keep buying new houses then how would the economy grow???
Finally, as increasing numbers of millennials and members of Generation Z decide to forgo childbearing in protest against climate change, the housing crisis, or the growing precarity of their financial futures in a brutal gig economy, the growing acceptance of alloparenting might offer unique opportunities for them to experience parenthood. Rather than struggling to rebalance the division of labor between breadwinning and caregiving, why not spread the necessary roles out more broadly among a greater number of committed adults?
“Finally, as increasing numbers of people see the end of the world approaching and wish only for a quick death, the growing acceptacne of alloparenting might allow them to get a taste of what was once a fundamental human experience!”
You will own nothing and be happy.