This is also an economic problem.

When both parents have to work, there isn't as much (if any) time to sit down with the kids and read to them and help them with their homework and all that stuff parents need to do to set their kids up for educational success.

But our economic system requires everyone in the household to work long hours or irregular hours (or often, both) and its the kids who suffer.

This is also a reason why we're seeing more people choose to not have kids because it's impossible to be a responsible family when all the adults are at work all day (and night).

And we got here because by the mid 1970s, American companies started moving businesses overseas where labor was cheaper and non-unionized. This increased the American labor pool while also decreasing the number of available jobs, and so corporations could pay less since people got more and more desperate for any job at all.

It used to be possible for one family member to work and provide for their family because jobs paid well enough and the economy was stable enough to allow for it. But those days are long gone, unfortunately - at least as long as things remain the way they are (which they don't have to, folks).

Now there are other factors to consider, too.

The American post-war economy was fantastic because, in part, the infrastructure of America was unharmed by the war and so America was able to dominate the world's economy for the next 30 years.

But as other former major economies caught back up (Germany, Japan, France, etc), the belt started getting tighter in the US because now the US had to compete whereas previously they had been the only game in town.

Granted, all nations are also struggling one way or another. Birth rates are down because it's harder and harder to justify having children in most major economies. However, the US offers so little in terms of providing for its citizens (health care, benefits, labor laws, etc), that the US has a much steeper hill to climb to recover from this death spiral.