Young people face the prospect of big trade offs to start a family today. Decisions about family are squeezed between declining wages, runaway home prices, child care that costs as much as a rent or mortgage payment, inadequate parental leave, and insufficient work-life balance. 

Squeezing entire generations in their prime child-rearing years is contributing to persistently high rates of early childhood vulnerability across Canada – because parental stress is contagious to kids.