A Twitter(X) exchange caused me to revisit my post from 2020 Affording a second child
A childhood friend and Facebook contact of mine pleaded to her friends, “How do people afford multiple children?”
I checked up on her and saw delightful pictures of a second child who, one way or another, they are now financially supporting along with that firstborn girl, in 2026. I obviously won’t post her family photos, but they took a summer trip to Yosemite National Park that looked something like this
Based on how she felt about supporting a second child, I would be surprised if they have a third, a “big family.” Two is about where most people can still afford to take trips across the country in the summer.
This caused me to reflect on Dolly Parton, who we all miss. The U.S. flag is at half-staff in recognition of Dolly’s passing.
Part of her charming narrative is the fact that she was born into poverty. Famously, Dolly grew up with 11 siblings in a two-room Tennessee cabin. I doubt their family made it out to Yosemite.
So, with some help from ChatGPT, I inquired about the Total Fertility Rate of those Parton children. In one generation, everything dramatically changed. The number of children born to the Parton clan ranges from three to zero. Chat writes:
Dolly and her five sisters appear to have had only about six biological children among them—an average of roughly one child per woman. Dolly herself had none. Including their brothers, the twelve Parton siblings seem to have produced only about sixteen children altogether.
The Parton family therefore compresses a major American demographic change into just two generations. Avie Lee had twelve children; her daughters averaged about one each.