Child-free Women and Men: Should We Establish and Start Celebrating Child-free Women's Day and Child-free Men's Day? (Brown, myths)
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People do both of the bolded statements with children. In fact, my son has greatly expanded my intellectual horizons.
It's fine to choose to be child-free but there's no need to use inaccurate statements to try to justify what is in fact a personal preference.
I'm not justifying anything, just stating that my wife and I have broadened our intellectual horizons via travel. There is nothing inaccurate about my statement of our personal preference. I said nothing concerning that one could not do the same with children. . I also find it quite odd that you even felt compelled to reply to my statement.
Your children are of no concern to me, they simply are, just like you.
To celebrate the fact that we have chosen to NOT give in to societal pressure to bring unwanted children into a world that already has millions of unwanted, unloved, neglected, homeless, and abused children already. Clearly parenthood is not for everyone. At least child-free people have the guts to say "no" to parenthood rather than blindly obeying societal pressure to have kids regardless of whether or not you're capable of being a responsible and loving parent.
There is no "societal pressure". No one really gives a rat's patooty whether or not you choose to have kids. Really, they don't.
Some countries are overpopulating the earth but The U.S. isn't one of them. Why don't you deal with the truth which is the people in this world that should pro-create are having less than two children per couple but it's the people that are least qualified on the planet that keep having children or too many children.
Technically, the U.S. might not be "overpopulated." But we have far more people than resources in some areas of our country, no matter how vast those areas may look. In case you haven't heard, the Southwestern part of our nation is headed for a huge water crisis. Yet we have the largest concentration of certain religions where women are encouraged to pump out huge numbers of children, with the belief that not only does it make them more worthy, but that some higher power will magically provide what those children need.
Hasn't history proved that neither one of those theories is correct? Most of the world's best educated countries have gotten the message that people should not do more than replace themselves. Not everyone in this country has.
We don't need a special holiday to celebrate something we don't have. Actually every day is a celebration for those of us that are child free because life is truly simpler for us!
Yeah ... it's simpler up until the time your siblings decide you should be responsible for your shared parents in their dotage because "you have time and all that space in your house."
This is as weird as the atheist meeting I ran into in a restaurant one time. I can understand getting together to discuss similar interests or celebration of similar beliefs. But I just don't understand the idea of celebrating or getting together to discuss the lack of belief or a lack of interest.
Just for the record, I am not part of a religion, but I still don't understand getting together to discuss what you don't believe.
Having a day for people without children makes about as much sense as a group of people getting together to talk about why they don't like to bicycle.
It really shouldn't be all that hard to understand. Religious people often prefer to get together with like minded people, that doesn’t mean they sit around talking about religion the entire time unless it's a meeting of sorts.
Nor do atheists sit around with like minded people talking only about atheism unless it's a meeting of that nature, and believe me there is a ton to talk about as atheist. And cf people having other friends that are child free is as common as people getting together to socialize with other people that do have children.
Often times religious people have more avenues to share their interests than people that are not religious. I'm gay and an atheist and was one of those women that can't physically have children for health reasons. I am surrounded by those who can and are also straight and Christian. While I get along with them very well it can be a bit stifling not to have a group of friends with whom I have more in common. I am not bothered by my straight Christian friends having their own groups, and they are not bothered by me having my own, which makes me feel quit lucky in fact, because I am all too aware of the many that find me objectionable because I am not only gay, but atheist and childless. This subject is more about judgement than anything else because if the judgement were not there we would not need to celebrate things others can't respect of deal with.
This isn't rocket science. It's just a matter of thinking beyond one's own limited experience. If one thinks about it, humans can always converse easier with people that are not sitting in judgement of each other, whether they be religious or non religious, gay or straight, childless or not.
OP: You seem very interested in adoption. I know that sometimes 1/2 the couple wants to adopt and the other 1/2 do not. A lot of people don't have what it takes to adopt simply because of the process. It is called "the adoption maze" for a reason. There is no reason to go into it. There is a specific area for that at C-D where people can get "real life" knowledge rather than reading web pages which are a joke. We have adopted a child, a baby with Down syndrome from a private agency because in trying to adopt an older child, mild to moderate disabilities, any race, ages 7 - 10, we gave up and decided to go private US special needs. So, suggest you go to the Parenting-Adoption to learn the realities involved.
Child-free is child-free and frankly, I found it extremely cold-hearted to make a separate classification for those that were not able to have children, "childless".
Let's face it, OP seems envious of Mother's and Father's Days, interested in adoption, ah..........................I do think deciding to have or not have children is a BIG decision and I'm guessing there is some envy on both sides. (Flu season or norovirus with the kids always got me wondering why people have kids!)
The point of mother's day and father's day is not to celebrate an attribute related to having/not having children. It is to celebrate what a mother or a father gives of themselves to their children. It also provides an opportunity for the children to express that. I'm not knocking being child-free, but what does that celebrate in and of itself?
Childfree people do give of themselves to friends, colleagues, pets, the environment, charities, etc. but that would be too many separate celebrations to lump together as one. And you would need to include people who are parents in those groups as well.
They can celebrate having more money, less gray, less wrinkles, less stress, less, well, you name it! Of course the good far outweighs the bad!
The only child-free day that we (child-free) currently celebrate is International Child-free Day on August 1st of each year (International Childfree Day | Celebrating Childfree Men and Women Around the World). But, as a child-free woman, I think child-free women and child-free men should have their own celebratory days rather than being lumped into one celebratory day (August 1st). I think Child-free Women's Day should be celebrated on the first Sunday in June and Child-free Men's Day should be celebrated on the second Sunday in June. (Father's Day is the third Sunday in June.)
So here are my questions to child-free C-D members (parents are free to offer their input as well):
1. Should we establish and start celebrating Child-free Women's Day and Child-free Men's Day?
2. If no, then why not, and if yes, then what dates would you recommend?
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A happy mom of many here...dude, every single day is a celebration for child free people. No one waking them up with a poopy diaper, no nasty notes from the teacher, no teen making you sick staying out late
Why on earth would there need to be a day to celebrate people who get to live their lives for themselves. We have celebration days for people who give (nurses, mothers, fathers, grandparents, doctors, teachers, etc).
This isn't to bash child free people or to say they are selfish. They might give of themselves in other ways. And in those ways they should be honored.
Every day is a celebration of CF if you are child free by choice! (But then again, I didn't want to read this very long thread. Perhaps someone already pointed that out).
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