The Guardian

My biological clock is ticking – but having children seems an unaffordable luxury | Arwa Mahdawi

Kids have always been expensive, but insecure housing and jobs markets have made becoming a parent more financially challenging than ever
‘The more I think about the practicalities of having children, the more I am amazed that anyone in the US who isn’t a Kardashian can afford it.’ (Posed by models.) Photograph: Ruslan Dashinsky/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Forget Rolexes, designer handbags or fancy holidays – the ultimate status symbol these days is a child. Or, more accurately, a bunch of children. (What is the collective noun for children? An ingratitude? A cacophony? An expense?) It seems to have become de rigueur for the rich and famous to have an enormous number of offspring.

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