My colleague Belinda Luscombe has written a story, published yesterday, that might give some people pause. She reports on a new Pew Research study about parental attitudes. The headline is a big reveal: “Parents Say It's More Important for Their Kids to Make Money Than to Start Families.” But there’s a lot more meat in there. I hope you’ll read it. Many of you remember Belinda, who used to be at the helm of this newsletter. Today I’m giving the reins back to her. Here’s her perspective: “One of the interesting things about writing parenting stories when your children are young adults is that you can take a longer view of the effects of any particular parenting trend. It’s easy to shake your head and think ‘oh this again’ when you come across a new parenting story, and ignore the alterations and evolutions that any parenting issue has undergone. “So when Pew sent me a copy of its latest survey, I was reminded of how some of my parental fears and priorities shifted as my children grew, and what I chose to emphasize to my children as important. Some of my parenting peers have children who are already married, and mine are not. And I wondered if I had perhaps, without really thinking about it, not communicated how much fun it is to engage in the whole family raising enterprise. And in all honesty, I cannot remember. Hope I looked like I was enjoying it, at least some of the time. “I also found myself hoping, as I researched the piece, that what some of the commenters said—that this signaled a turn away from family-building as a key human enterprise—was wrong and that people keep pairing up and having kids and tearing their hair out over how to do it right for years to come.” Share your thoughts with me at andrea@time.com. Best,
Andrea | 
