I may be old fashioned, but I still believe you should get married before having kids. But people don’t take marriage seriously either.
Honestly, nobody takes relationships in general seriously anymore. You hear about people complaining about potential partners, "only looking for/wanting
one thing," and that's pretty much the name of the game anymore.
Of course, there are some defenders who offer up their rebuttals, saying things like, "Well, you wouldn't buy a car without test driving it first, would you?" Well, motor vehicles and people's hearts and feelings are two completely different things. I mean, if you need to see if you're compatible with each other, that's pretty much what the concept of dating is: getting to know one another, seeing how well you mesh, seeing if anything may progress a little further, and if so, and you feel like you could spend the rest of your lives together, that's what engagement is: making your life plans of spending your futures together in all kinds of weather, which, of course, leads to marriage . . . and
then,
only then, can you reap the benefits and perks that come with it.
But no. Most people don't want to get straight to the benefits and perks, rather than concern themselves with the actual commitment and other things that are involved . . . this why you hear some say things like, "Oh, we don't need paperwork or rings to prove we love each other." That kind of serves as evidence that you really
don't love each other if you're not willing to actually commit to each other like that - clearly, you just want to fool around without fooling around with the important stuff.
But, whatever.