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Culture War Roundup for the week of July 13, 2026

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Then someone pipes up and says: you can just teach your children to not be like that. Arguing ensues.

I think you can. Theoretically it's possible. If we raised cattle the way parents are expected to raise kids, nobody would ever get to eat beef. Easing the regulations on parenting and education would help the supply issue.

If the birth rate issue was serious, we probably shouldn't have any child protective services at all, as it should be pretty trivial to demonstrate that the fear of legal repercussions for accidental child harm prevents the average non-abusive parents from adding another child. Exhibit 1 on travel-related regulations reducing birth rate:

If we had more time, maybe we could wait a couple more years until the oldest two can go without car seats, then have room in a minivan/suv for a 5th-6th.

When the bureaucrats run out of peasants to feed them they'll find out that you can't eat paper. It's odd how millenials who literally grew up with the libertarian revolution of the web, birthing such bureaucracy-killers as uber, youtube, amazon or onlyfans, still hold dear to letting dead people decide how their life should be lived.
Unironically.

Maybe. "You could do things that are now technically legal, but everyone in your social group will think you're a crappy mom" isn't much of a pitch to have more children.

But I'm currently having an annoying summer break because my youngest, not yet two, needs to be chased down and grabbed everywhere we go, I'm sure I'll feel better about him again in a month.

Well I'm not saying you should be doing this in the current circumstances, but there are some easy things that could be done to make it easier to be a parent, legally and socially.
Currently we have parents getting arrested for letting their child walk to a nearby shop in a tiny town.

needs to be chased down and grabbed everywhere we go

Yes and of course you'd get judged if you were to put them on a leash, even though that's the safest, most responsible thing to do as a parent of such a child.

Sure, kids should be able to go places alone a bit more. That wouldn't affect my own neighborhood all that much, but would be an improvement on the margin.