Are We The Last Generation To Have Tons Of Cousins?

Like a lot of Millennials, I can’t tell you how many cousins I have. My mom is one of eight kids, and my dad is one of four, and all of our family get-togethers were completely chaotic blurs of aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, farm animals, and who knows who else. There were enough kids running around at any time to play a robust game of dodgeball or capture the flag.

But my kids aren’t growing up the same way. They have four cousins, total, and even when everyone is together, it doesn’t have the same family feel that I had growing up.

The simple truth is that our parents had way fewer kids than our grandparents, and family reunions these days — on the whole — are smaller and more muted affairs.

Influencer Kelsey Myers put it in a more shocking way: Are Millennials the last generation ever to have tons of cousins?

“Our moms did not have the number of babies that our grandmas did,” she begins in her TikTok video. “And I know there are always exceptions to the rule, but for the most part, our kids are not growing up with the amount of cousins that we did.”

Like me, she has no idea how many cousins she even has.

“I couldn’t tell you how many cousins I have on each side of my family. I’m sure I counted at some point,” she says. “But I can tell you that my kids have 2 cousins on one side and three cousins on the other side. That is just so different from how I grew up. I grew up going to my cousin's house every weekend, or they were over at our house. We were always running around together. There was always someone to hang out with, always someone to play with, always someone to babysit.”

It just changes how our kids experience family — and the holidays.

“During holidays, there were so many kids running around. It was just so chaotic. And now the whole family can just eat around one table,” she continues. “A great example of what it was like was the movie Home Alone. Nowadays, you can’t even imagine missing one of your children. But back then, there were so many fucking kids running around and the parents weren’t paying attention too much. Not realizing that you were missing a kid was a lot easier to do in the 80s and 90s than it is now.”

And it’s not just in our heads. A recent study in Canada found that a 35-year-old person in 1950 had an average of 20 cousins, while someone the same age in 2020 has an average of 10 cousins. By 2095, the average 35-year-old will have just 5 cousins.

Sounds like the kids’ table might go extinct before we know it.

Down in the comments, readers agreed that when it comes to cousins, the times are changing for sure.

“We had like 60 people at a Christmas party. Now? 15 would be generous,” one person wrote.

“My kids have ZERO cousins. ZERO,” said another. “I don’t blame my siblings for not wanting kids in this world, but it does make me sad that my kids won’t ever know that feeling.”

“It makes me so sad! I have a million cousins and we are so close,” chimed in a third.

“My kids don’t have ANY cousins!!!!! Weird and kinda sad. I’m so close with mine,” another added.

Several people found a good solution, though.

“My daughter has no first cousins! Her only cousins are like my cousins’ kids,” one person wrote — and many people chimed in and said that they were also recreated chaotic cousin life by including second cousins in the fun.

Maybe it’s time for everyone to see what their cousins’ kids are up to!