{"id":4019,"date":"2023-06-23T14:16:21","date_gmt":"2023-06-23T14:16:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/strongermarriages\/?p=4019"},"modified":"2023-06-23T17:27:02","modified_gmt":"2023-06-23T17:27:02","slug":"dont-wait-chris-pratt-urges-people-to-start-having-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/strongermarriages\/2023\/06\/dont-wait-chris-pratt-urges-people-to-start-having-families.html","title":{"rendered":"\u201cDon\u2019t wait.\u201d Chris Pratt Urges People to Start Having Families"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kathy Hutchins \/ Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Actor Chris Pratt recently spoke with <\/span>Men\u2019s Journal<\/span><\/em><\/a>, where he spent a great deal of time sharing about his love for his family and how that has impacted him as an actor. When speaking about his hit Amazon show, \u201cThe Terminal List,\u201d Pratt said that fatherhood had certainly impacted its popularity. \u201cSome critic said something like it was an \u2018unhinged revenge fantasy.\u2019 And, to be honest, that\u2019s exactly what it is, in a way. Whenever you\u2019re put in a position, or even imagine a position, where those kids are in danger, your mind goes to wild places,\u201d he said. He said shows like \u201cThe Terminal List\u201d or movies like Liam Neeson\u2019s \u201cTaken\u201d resonate with the way fathers want to protect their children. \u201c\u2026as someone who\u2019s talked to a lot of dads, I think we all ask ourselves what we would do. That\u2019s one of the reasons Liam Neeson\u2019s movie \u2018Taken\u2019 was such a hit. Our dads are just like, \u2018Yes! Get \u2018em! Use that special set of skills,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

When asked if being a father has made him a more versatile actor, Pratt responded, \u201cYes, undeniably. One hundred percent.\u201d Pratt, 43, has three children: Jack with ex-wife Anna Faris, and Lyla and Eloise with current wife Katherin Schwarzenegger. He encouraged people to have children sooner rather than later. \u201cPeople say all the time, \u2018Don\u2019t rush to have kids,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cI personally disagree. Rush. Have them. Of course, make sure you find a great partner but don\u2019t wait.\u201d He shared that actor Adam Sandler had given him similar advice. \u201c[Sandler] said, \u2018Every day you wait is a day they don\u2019t get to have you in their life.\u2019 The younger you have kids, the more time they get to have with you. It\u2019s wild. Having kids is incredible. The things you normally take for granted in life are new,\u201d he shared. He also shared that having kids has impacted the kinds of movies he is considering, such as looking to do more PG movies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Pratt\u2019s comments come at a time when the average age that US women have their first child has steadily gone up. New <\/span>census data<\/span><\/a>\u00a0revealed that the median age of US women having their first child was now 30. Fertility rates for women between the ages of 20 and 24 had declined by 43 percent and were down 22 percent for women between the ages of 25 to 29. Rates had jumped for older mothers, jumping 67 percent for mothers between 35 and 39 and going up over 132 percent for women between the ages of 40 and 44. The older ages have contributed to\u00a0<\/span>declining US birthrates<\/span><\/a>\u00a0as women delay having children, bringing the rate down to most women having an average of 1.3 babies in their lifetime. The decreasing rates have caused some policymakers to encourage policies to incentivize having babies. For example, in Estonia, Finland, and Japan, governments art trying to encourage higher birth rates by\u00a0<\/span>paying people to have children<\/span><\/a>. In the municipality of Lestij\u00e4rvi in Finland, each baby born is worth 10,000 euros, paid out in $1000 payments over 10 years. The need for higher birth rates can be summed up practically as needing enough revenue (people to tax) to sustain government budgets and having a sustainable workforce. According to Dr. John Rowe, a Columbia University professor, \u201cWe need to have a long-term stable workforce to sustain our economy.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Actor Chris Pratt recently spoke with Men\u2019s Journal, where he spent a great deal of time sharing about his love for his family and how that has impacted him as an actor. When speaking about his hit Amazon show, \u201cThe Terminal List,\u201d Pratt said that fatherhood had certainly impacted its popularity. \u201cSome critic said something…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":4037,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cDon\u2019t wait.\u201d Chris Pratt Urges People to Start Having Families<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Chris Pratt encourages people to start their families sooner than later.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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