When I was in my 20s, it was easy to imagine how life would unfold.It would include a job with good wages, benefits and a pension plan. A job that didn't depend on having a postgraduate degree. One imagined getting married in one's mid- to late 20s, starting a family and taking the first scary plunge into the housing market.For most of us, this wasn't achieved owing to the Bank of Mom and Dad, but rather by scraping together a meagre down payment and mortgaging the rest. When you got into the housing market, you started off, for the most part, in a house and not a 500-square-foot condo.Child care, especially the cost, wasn't nearly the concern it is today. It was also still possible for a middle-class family to survive on one income, if that was the choice.

Most of us who graduated from university or college in the 1970s and 80s were not burdened with extraordinary student debt. Back then, a postsecondary education was ridiculously cheap.This is all to say that life was much different than it is for twenty- and thirtysomethings today. Everything has changed. The cost of a postsecondary education today is grossly prohibitive. Unless you are helped by parents, you can expect to leave university or college thousands (and potentially tens of thousands) of dollars in debt, especially if you stuck around to get a master's degree.Yes, there are jobs out there, but they don't come with magnificent benefits and they long ago stopped coming with defined-benefit pension plans - if they come with pension plans at all (see: gig economy).If you are in your 30s today, you have already had to navigate two brutal recessions.Worst of all, of course, is housing. Never in the history of this country has the cost of housing been so disassociated from a person's income. If you live in Toronto or Vancouver, it is grossly so. According to a recent National Bank of Canada report, mortgage payments as a percentage of household income in Vancouver stand at 89 per cent for no condo owners. In Toronto, it is 68.1 per cent. It is better in other, smaller markets, but life still isn't cheap there. For many young couples, home for the rest of their lives is a tiny condo, or small townhome, unless they want to move to a more rural area.Which brings me to Pope Francis.He recently made news by suggesting millennials were "selfish" for choosing "dogs and cats" over children. He posited this phenomenon took away "our humanity" - a follow-up to his 2014 statement that having pets and not children was a form of "cultural degradation."That's a lot to hang on one generation. But it's also tone-deaf and completely misses the mark.As much as having children remains one of the greatest joys and achievements of my life, I'm not sure I'd do it in today's environment. There are many impediments, some of which I've mentioned. The thought of raising a family in a small apartment doesn't appeal to me, even though many have no alternative. But it is a choice - and many young people are saying "No, thanks."There are lots of other factors at play here beyond the staggering price of housing. Another is the cost of living generally. In most cases, both people in a marriage or partnership have to work in order to pay the bills. Yes, many employers offer leaves for employees who have children, but after that support runs out, couples face onerous childcare costs. Beyond that, many young women today are less willing to consider starting a family if they sense their partner is unwilling to make the same sacrifices, they are in the name of raising a child. Times have changed. In many cases, a life of travel and exploration is more appealing than barely making ends meet with kids in the picture.There are more existential reasons for not wanting children as well, such as the state of the world. The future young adults face today as a result of climate change is scary enough, let alone what it might be like 30 or 40 years from now for any children they might have.Look, the Pope is right to point out we have a fertility crisis in certain parts of the world, including North America. Birth rates in this country have been trending downward since 2008.But blaming millennials for choosing pets over children is just being ignorant to the truth. Maybe, the finger should be pointed instead at those who have created the mess that young people are inheriting.

According to the article, do you agree or disagree with the author's opinion that the young couples believe they cannot afford having children these days? Provide 3 reasons to support your position. Use your own words and include supporting points from the article in the form of APA style quotes (in-text).

1. Establish a 3-point thesis applying the rules of Parallel structure and restate it in a conclusive sentence 2. Reflect on the ideas of your thesis statement in your body paragraphs, in the same order, starting with the topic sentence and providing sufficient supporting details 3. Support your own ideas with evidence from the reading, including APA-style in-text citations (the minimum of 2)

4. Write 500-600 words (in-text citation should cover up to 15% of the total word limit)

5. Apply transitional words at the start of each new paragraph and within the paragraphs 6. Proofread for grammar, spelling and word choice