When I read manga and novel, I frequently see fathers who, in a pathological way, forbid their children from dating men -- I think that is "fiction" and "tempestuous".

I believe that today's parents would be more concerned about the risk of their children becoming 'people who cannot fall in love in real life'

However, there are many different kinds of parents, so it may not be a "fiction" all together.

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I also want my daughters to find a good companion (of the opposite or same sex) and be happy, but whether or not they will be "happy" is very much a matter of "luck," and this is something we cannot control.

If this is the case, then the role of parents in their children's happiness is not to "prohibit dating" but, on the contrary, to "encourage dating" and advise "as many lovers as possible'.

I think I have the figures on marriage and divorce rates in mind for the last decade or so, but I was astonished the other day when I saw the data on marriage activity rates.

The percentage of women who "don't want to get married," rather than "can't get married," has increased alarmingly.

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However, the probability that the partner will not be a "good match" is high (divorce rate is nearly 40%), and our country's childcare support system is in shambles.

For example, if we consider the cost-effectiveness of the tax revenue generated by children, those who are raising four children per person should be exempt from the obligation to work and the government should provide them with a full living allowance at a level that would be acceptable (*).

(*) I believe I made a calculation somewhere that the cost-effectiveness would be about 1.4 to 1.5, but I couldn't find it (even though I wrote the column myself).

If you find it, I would be happy to hear from you.

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Incidentally--

In fact, there are many things that can make us happy, even if they are not childcare, marriage, or love.

And the world is full of content that you will be "unhappy" with childcare, marriage, and love, and in fact the possibility of being "unhappy" is far greater than with other events.

In comparison, there is surprisingly little content on "being happy" in childcare, marriage, and love, and surprisingly little information on "being happy" is disseminated.

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Yesterday, I sent the final version of my column summarizing the last 40 years or so of domestic and international research on "happiness" in this area to the editorial board.

You will be able to read it next year.