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Fatherhood

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The link between smartphones and falling fertility rates is becoming clear

Seven things to know about Australia’s baby bust – and what it means for you

The smartphone is copping some of the blame for the declining global fertility rate. Middle children are out of style. And there is a big difference between childfree and childless.

  • Matt Wade and Bronte Gossling

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Sydney horticulturalist Felicity Moody is an only child. She loved having her mother’s undivided love growing up, but does acknowledge it would be nice to have a sibling as her mother ages.

Selfish, spoiled, lonely … these only children have heard it all. But are the stereotypes true?

As Australia’s fertility rate falls, single-child families are on the rise. Most only children see no issue with that – but not all.

  • Bronte Gossling and Pablo Barnes
Mitchell Pearce, coaching the Catalans Dragons in France.

Whatever happened to Mitchell Pearce? Well, he moved to Europe, gave up the grog and converted to Islam

The former NRL hellraiser has resettled in France, where he is assistant coach at the Catalans Dragons rugby league team.

  • Peter FitzSimons
NSW South Coast couple Steph Powell, 39, and husband Mark Powell, 40, with their five sons (L-R): Harlo, 11, Taj, 13, Bodhi, 3, Sabre, 7, Hendrix, 9. Steph says she would have more children if they didn’t grow up.

What it’s really like to have a big family today

Stares at the supermarket. 3am starts. Batch cooking champions. As Australia’s fertility rate falls to a record low, families with four or more children are becoming a rare species.

  • Bronte Gossling
Growing up in Perth playing with Baby Born dolls, Bianka Ismailovski never questioned that she’d become a mother. But she never felt maternal. “I was doing what I thought was expected of me,” she says. Once you start challenging stereotypes when you get divorced at 30, she laughs, then there’s no reason to stop.

The people who say no to being a parent, and have very happy lives

Australia’s fertility rate is at a record low, putting those who have made the personal choice to be child-free in the centre of a political battleground whether they like it or not.

  • Bronte Gossling
There’s a great life to be had out the other side of the baby-making vortex, says author Katrina Strickland, pictured here with Teo.

I didn’t choose to be ‘childless’, but life on the other side is actually pretty great

For some of the unintentionally childless there were medical issues. For others, it was the result of not one big decision but dozens of little ones.

  • Katrina Strickland
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Harry on stage during a Q&A session at the Western Bulldogs HQ.

‘Am I gonna be enough?’ Harry opens up about struggles of fatherhood

On the second day of his Australian tour, the Duke of Sussex also shared how his relationship with his father, King Charles, informed his approach to parenting.

  • Lauren Ironmonger
Louis Theroux explores the manosphere in this new Netflix documentary.

Andrew Tate’s not the only man missing from Theroux’s manosphere doco

There is ongoing resistance to discussing the issue of fatherlessness – and its impact on boys – in polite society.

  • Parnell Palme McGuinness
Jim Christie and his daughter, Julianne, in his workshop.

Julianne moved in with her ‘old-school’ father during the pandemic. She never left 

When she was a child, Julianne Christie, an economist turned gilder, found her dad reserved. Living together in the NSW Southern Highlands has changed all that.

  • Jane Cadzow
Martin Luther King III remembers his father playing baseball, taking him bike-riding and teaching him to swim.

Martin was 10 when his father’s death rocked the world. This is the message he has for kids today

The son of internationally celebrated civil rights activist Dr Martin Luther King jnr on Indigenous affairs, the current state of the US and living your legacy.

  • Amanda Hooton