Bucket list favourites including buying a house, travelling and getting married are now more of a priority to British couples than starting a family, a new study has found.
Times are changing and the age at which couples choose to have their first child appears to be on the rise. We know that finances are generally much tighter for the younger generation so it’s no surprise that many young couples may want to wait until they’re in a more stable position before having children of their own.
Thanks to the prevalence of social media, there’s growing pressure on young people to go on Instagram-worthy holidays, have the perfect wedding, acquire nicer homes and belongings, and generally live their best lives. But it all comes at a cost – and there’s always more to be bought.
In a survey of 1,003 British adults, carried out by etailer Furniture123.co.uk, 67% said that getting onto the property ladder was their number one priority for adult life and that they wanted a place to call their own before planning to start a family.
63% or respondents said they wanted to see more of the world before committing to children.
53% of respondents said that landing their dream job was more of a priority than starting a family, as 1 in 3 believe it would be difficult to juggle career progression with the responsibilities of parenthood.
41% said they wouldn’t plan to settle down to have children until they had tied the knot with their partner.
Owning a pet also made the top five list of priorities – 29% claimed they wanted to buy a pet before having children and 95% of these said that caring for a pet was great practice for looking after a child.
