Jedyna
6 Feb 2007 / #1
Sociologists in Poland claim that there is no such phenomenon as “baby boom” right now. According to them, our society is ageing fast and young people have more and more hesitations to start a family. However, what strikes me whenever I am in a park or at the shopping malls is the fact that there is such a huge number of pregnant women and women with small children. What is even more interesting is that the women are either in their late twenties or much older.
I think that there are numerous reasons why we can talk about baby boom in Poland.
Firstly, the boom generation who were born in the seventies has already reached reproduction age, so naturally the number of children being born seems to be impressive.
Secondly, right now despite terrifying unemployment rates in Poland, there is a huge group of people being in their early 30’s being extremely successful in the sphere of professional life. Most of them already have everything that makes life easier, i.e. houses, cars, etc. They usually work about 12 h a day in various companies and at certain point because of physical and psychological exhaustion, they want to make their lives more meaningful and harmonious and decide to settle down.
Moreover, the media popularize the “pregnancy trend”. All women magazines are full of advice concerning pregnancy, taking of care of yourselves before and after having a baby, yoga for pregnant women, etc. They present beautiful photo sessions with famous television and cinema stars and attempt to convince their readers that pregnancy does no longer stand for unattractiveness. On the contrary, now even you can be sexier because if you only have money you can dress in designer boutiques and using special diet and some people cannot even notice that you are pregnant.
Another group of women who feel the special pressure to get pregnant soon are the employees of the fast-pace environment places like advertising, PR or media agencies. In such work places when everything has to be done by yesterday, people are often treated as machines. Therefore, after some years of such labor, they are willing to move from the noisy and fast urban environment to the pastoral countryside in order to enjoy harmony and simplicity of rustic life. After years of crazy emotional stress and physical effort invested into a career, it seems for them that life in the country may be a perfect environment to have and raise their kids.
Next, there are also more depressing causes of “baby boom” in Poland, which may be noticed. Due to high unemployment rates, young Polish people spent even years looking for some reasonable job. Therefore, in the middle of job quest, they often decided to have a child. It seems reasonable for them to raise the kids until they reach their kindergarten age and then start working for real without a fear of not being employed due to family planning.
Last but not least important argument in favor of baby boom in Poland is the special policy of the new government. The idea of special “child benefit” called “becikowe”, approximately up to 1000 PLN for each woman who decides to get pregnant. It may not seem extremely attractive at first glance but taking into consideration tough economic conditions of some of the Polish families, in some circumstances it may be considered a tempting offer. Moreover, the ruling political parties spread the notion of pro-family policy based on catholic values which have a lot of followers.
Therefore, believe it or not but as a keen observer of social life, I certainly see the upward trend related to the interest in establishing family and having children.
"Jedyna", February 6, 2007
I think that there are numerous reasons why we can talk about baby boom in Poland.
Firstly, the boom generation who were born in the seventies has already reached reproduction age, so naturally the number of children being born seems to be impressive.
Secondly, right now despite terrifying unemployment rates in Poland, there is a huge group of people being in their early 30’s being extremely successful in the sphere of professional life. Most of them already have everything that makes life easier, i.e. houses, cars, etc. They usually work about 12 h a day in various companies and at certain point because of physical and psychological exhaustion, they want to make their lives more meaningful and harmonious and decide to settle down.
Moreover, the media popularize the “pregnancy trend”. All women magazines are full of advice concerning pregnancy, taking of care of yourselves before and after having a baby, yoga for pregnant women, etc. They present beautiful photo sessions with famous television and cinema stars and attempt to convince their readers that pregnancy does no longer stand for unattractiveness. On the contrary, now even you can be sexier because if you only have money you can dress in designer boutiques and using special diet and some people cannot even notice that you are pregnant.
Another group of women who feel the special pressure to get pregnant soon are the employees of the fast-pace environment places like advertising, PR or media agencies. In such work places when everything has to be done by yesterday, people are often treated as machines. Therefore, after some years of such labor, they are willing to move from the noisy and fast urban environment to the pastoral countryside in order to enjoy harmony and simplicity of rustic life. After years of crazy emotional stress and physical effort invested into a career, it seems for them that life in the country may be a perfect environment to have and raise their kids.
Next, there are also more depressing causes of “baby boom” in Poland, which may be noticed. Due to high unemployment rates, young Polish people spent even years looking for some reasonable job. Therefore, in the middle of job quest, they often decided to have a child. It seems reasonable for them to raise the kids until they reach their kindergarten age and then start working for real without a fear of not being employed due to family planning.
Last but not least important argument in favor of baby boom in Poland is the special policy of the new government. The idea of special “child benefit” called “becikowe”, approximately up to 1000 PLN for each woman who decides to get pregnant. It may not seem extremely attractive at first glance but taking into consideration tough economic conditions of some of the Polish families, in some circumstances it may be considered a tempting offer. Moreover, the ruling political parties spread the notion of pro-family policy based on catholic values which have a lot of followers.
Therefore, believe it or not but as a keen observer of social life, I certainly see the upward trend related to the interest in establishing family and having children.
"Jedyna", February 6, 2007
