Natalie Brown is a writer, scholar, lawyer, mother, and Latter-day Saint based in Boulder, Colorado. She is writing in her personal capacity. Her views do not reflect those of the church or her employer.
Apostle Dallin H. Oaks recently advised young single adults of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to not delay having children. Such rhetoric, of course, is nothing new to members, especially women who grew up hearing that motherhood was the most important role to which they could aspire. However, Oaks also acknowledged that younger adults face challenging economic circumstances, such as rising housing prices and student debt, that can make family formation daunting even while advising members to move forward with faith.
Parenting is an act of faith. As a parent of young children and a Latter-day Saint, I have witnessed the ways in which pathways have opened for me to raise my children in difficult times. Nevertheless, I have also watched as the rapid deterioration of parenting communities and exploding prices in housing, childcare, and higher education have turned parenting into an isolating and extremely expensive endeavor. After President Oaks’s address, I turned to friends in the trenches to ask if there are steps the church might consider to make parenting easier even as members move forward with faith.
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