"anything they wanted to be" might include options such as "be a parent" and, without question, falling wages is a difficulty if you want to be a parent.
>falling wages is a difficulty if you want to be a parent.
I would agree with that! I would also make the point that parents nowadays feel like they "need" to spend very lavishly on their children. Companies have gotten very good at convincing parents they "need" all this extra stuff for their kids and more space to store more stuff. I grew up in a family of 5 in 1,200 sq/ft apartment. Nowadays my friend (who also has a family of 5) is moving out of her 2,500 sq/ft house because her family "needs more space." Somehow my generation and my parent's generation grew up with a lot less and still made it to adulthood. You can't discount cultural influences.
(I also think the need to live in a "good" school district is very overrated and I was in a very, very bad school district my whole childhood.)
