Reward the Grandparents

Reward the Grandparents.

If we’re serious about reversing demographic collapse, we need to stop focusing exclusively on individuals who aren’t having children and start holding their parents accountable.

After all, whether someone becomes a competent, willing parent is largely determined by how well they were raised. Fertility behavior isn’t random, it’s a generational transmission of values, structure, and expectations.

So here’s the proposal:

We shift the incentive structure upstream. Reward people not for having children, but for raising children who go on to have families of their own. In other words, reward grandparents.

If your children reproduce and raise stable families, you receive benefits: tax breaks, status privileges, retirement support. If they don’t, you face penalties, reduced entitlements, heavy estate taxation, or other forms of resource reallocation.

The logic is simple: Raising functional, future-oriented adults is a civic duty. Failing to do so imposes a cost on the commons. Succeeding at it creates multi-generational value. So we build a policy structure that says: No grandchildren? No legacy. Many grandchildren? You’ve earned support.

It’s time we stop incentivizing stagnation and start rewarding civilizational continuity.