Good Evening, Lydia,
I read your article and I did find it interesting. However, people in general, can and often times do, choose not to have kids for many viable and non-selfish reasons. And sometimes those non-selfish reasons can at surface level seem selfish, but when in fact are not. Here are some examples that readily come to mind.
(1a.) asthma and diabetes run strong in my husband and myself’s families…I grew up with it since I was 1 years old. Why would I put another soul through the kind of sickness and suffering that I went through all of my life? That would be very selfish of me. b) Diabetes can worsen the quality of life, why would I be selfish to put another soul through that?
Diabetes can lead to poor circulation and gout.
2.) If you know from the very beginning, that you could not handle some brats incessant screaming and acting up, and you know that you would have zero patience, ..why abuse the child or worse than that to a child, because you have not enough patience or tolerance? that would be selfish.
3.) Is it selfish to say no to having kids, because you have a lot of debt or do not make enough?
4.) Is it selfish to like peace and quiet in our daily lives?,
5.) Is it selfish to want to have the freedom to choose when and where we like to travel or eat dinner at ? I do not think it is wrong for anyone to choose a life that works for them. We have wonderful friends, family members and hobbies/interests that keep life enriching and enjoyable and meaningful for us.
I would like others who think peoples life’s ambitions are to get married and have kids….to understand that many others choose a happy, valid childfree way of life and to not try to force their views onto already happy, well-adjusted childfrees or for the people sitting on the fence and are undecided.
Thanks for listening. I hope this explains things better.
christine, chris and da birdies.
Technorati Tags: childfree



{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
my mum suffers from asthma, and its the genetic version, i will develop it one day, rowan suffers from it too, so thats the first thing, 2nd, i have cancers both sides of my family(i had a scare a few years back i had a growth on my leg, luckily it was benign), so has rowan, i have a few mental quirks, i am not as bad as an obsessive compulsive, but i like my own stuff in its own place, and i get annoyed if anyone messes with my stuff, i get focused on tasks, to the exclusion of everything, even eating.
plus the financial reasons, and the self knowledge i will be a terrible father, even with rowan i am antisocial sometimes i just have to be alone, free to do what i want, if i dont get that time on my own, i get short tempered, (which in a 6 foot tall 23 stone man who used to play school boy rugbyleague isnt good), plus i am clumsy, i can break things just by looking hard at them
everyones reason is their own, it can be a combination of 1 or 21, that makes the idea of children unworkable in that situation.