Rich Kids
on Wealth & the True Cost of Having Children
When it comes to natalism —meaning, having kids —a latent hostility to big families may be nearing its expiration date. We seem to be at an inflection point because two trend-lines are crossing: the advent of demographic winter and Baby Boomers retiring en masse.
A recent indicator is an op-ed in The Financial Times by fashion editor Elizabeth Paton, entitled “The ultimate status symbol? A big family,” published on August 24, 2025.
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C. R. Wiley is a pastor living in the Pacific Northwest. He is the author of The Household and the War for the Cosmos and In the House of Tom Bombadil. He is also a co-host of The Theology Pugcast. He is a senior editor of Touchstone.
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more on family from the online archives
32.4—July/August 2019
Today's Culture Wars Are Both Ancient & Modern by Allan C. Carlson
23.1—January/February 2010
It’s Bent on Bringing Down the House on the Family & the Church by Douglas Farrow
33.2—March/April 2020
Encounters with Faith & Forgiveness in Communities of Faith by Nicole M. King
more from the online archives
20.8—October 2007
The Deep & Abiding Biblical Roots of Western Liberal Education by David Lyle Jeffrey
31.5—September/October 2018
The Rise of the Gnostic Liberal State After Christianity by Andrew Latham
31.4—July/August 2018
Life & Love Are Real Despite Theatrical Illusions by Anthony Esolen
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