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I have no problem with people who don't want kids. However, I find it hilarious when a childless couple owns a dog or cat and then refers to them as "their kids" or "my baby." That's essentially a mental disorder. It's the height of vanity, where you recognize that you want to raise some(thing) but you're too lazy to make it a human. The best is when these same people start dressing up their pets or even walk them around in strollers.
Wow.
Maybe they know they wouldn't be good parents but still want to have company?
Maybe they want to be responsible and not put MORE children in this overpopulated world but have so much love to give that they give it to a pet?
Maybe they don't have the money to raise children and belong to the few who actually realize it BEFORE they reproduce?
Maybe they just love animals but no kids?
Maybe they do not LIKE children?
Calling a pet "my baby" makes much more sense then having children when you know you have serious genetic disorders in your family, no money to comfortable raise a child, no great spouse or ... or .. I could list 1,000 reasons why alot of people shouldn't have children.
Not everybody who CAN reproduce, SHOULD reproduce and we should HIGHLY respect those you REALIZE that for themselves and don't make children!
Maybe they know they wouldn't be good parents but still want to have company?
Maybe they want to be responsible and not put MORE children in this overpopulated world but have so much love to give that they give it to a pet?
Maybe they don't have the money to raise children and belong to the few who actually realize it BEFORE they reproduce?
Maybe they just love animals but no kids?
Maybe they do not LIKE children?
Calling a pet "my baby" makes much more sense then having children when you know you have serious genetic disorders in your family, no money to comfortable raise a child, no great spouse or ... or .. I could list 1,000 reasons why alot of people shouldn't have children.
Not everybody who CAN reproduce, SHOULD reproduce and we should HIGHLY respect those you REALIZE that for themselves and don't make children!
Nobody said they SHOULD reproduce. I said that if they don't WANT to reproduce, then mentally visualizing an animal as your baby equals a mental disorder. And we can sit around here playing a game about how they have "serious genetic disorders," but that's a silly game that silly people play. I don't have time for that.
Maybe they know they wouldn't be good parents but still want to have company?
Maybe they want to be responsible and not put MORE children in this overpopulated world but have so much love to give that they give it to a pet?
Maybe they don't have the money to raise children and belong to the few who actually realize it BEFORE they reproduce?
Maybe they just love animals but no kids?
Maybe they do not LIKE children?
Calling a pet "my baby" makes much more sense then having children when you know you have serious genetic disorders in your family, no money to comfortable raise a child, no great spouse or ... or .. I could list 1,000 reasons why alot of people shouldn't have children.
Not everybody who CAN reproduce, SHOULD reproduce and we should HIGHLY respect those you REALIZE that for themselves and don't make children!
Thank you oh-eve. We actually have an entire family of invisible cats so if referring to a pet as your 'baby' is a mental disorder, we should obviously in the soft room with our reversible jackets by now. :roll eyes:
For us the priority has always been the freedom to travel. I know a lot of 'child-burdened' (I'm just being funny here, no need for anyone's knickers to get twisty) folks travel internationally with kids but we don't earn enough to do that and not struggle. Plus we don't necessarily want to see things that kids are interested in. Anyway, we're able to work to support our nomadic lifestyle and put down roots somewhere if we want to. (Hello Alaska!)
For us the priority has always been the freedom to travel. I know a lot of 'child-burdened' (I'm just being funny here, no need for anyone's knickers to get twisty) folks travel internationally with kids but we don't earn enough to do that and not struggle. Plus we don't necessarily want to see things that kids are interested in. Anyway, we're able to work to support our nomadic lifestyle and put down roots somewhere if we want to. (Hello Alaska!)
By the way, this is an example of what I'm talking about. Notice how the decision to have kids or not was "because I like to travel"? Hey, it's fine to not have kids for any reason at all (or to have them for any reason at all), but it's fascinating how people will say things like that. "My decision to have kids was based on my desire to travel." Oh ....kay.
We the childless by choice are an emerging group in the US.
Here is how I envision our lifestyle and economics.
--- focus on educational and career development which helps us obtain a better financial status
--- save a substantial amount for retirement. We need it since we don't have anyone to care for us.
--- spend money on increasing the quality of life, which may include food, travel, outdoors, fashion, etc.
--- create a circle of like minded friends and social support
--- have wonderful sex and social variety
--- enjoy the freedom to live a flexible, independent, and traveling life.
--- experience things that take a bit more money and or more time, in ways others can't.
What's yours ?
There is no "our", just different individuals who didn't have kids. You can't pigeon hole. I'm frugal, not big into travel or fashion. I have my hobbies and like quiet living and independence. It's not an exclusive club doing things "in ways others can't". Some of us are poor or disabled, working class, or unemployed and also struggling in todays economy. No need to make being childfree sound elite, because it isn't, anyone can go through tough times but there are few to no safety nets for us.
I just would like to see fair laws and taxation, without favoritism toward those with children.
By the way, this is an example of what I'm talking about. Notice how the decision to have kids or not was "because I like to travel"? Hey, it's fine to not have kids for any reason at all (or to have them for any reason at all), but it's fascinating how people will say things like that. "My decision to have kids was based on my desire to travel." Oh ....kay.
As opposed to the very frequent explanation of "the reason I had my kid was because I forgot Wednesday's birth control pill"
We the childless by choice are an emerging group in the US.
Here is how I envision our lifestyle and economics.
--- focus on educational and career development which helps us obtain a better financial status
--- save a substantial amount for retirement. We need it since we don't have anyone to care for us.
--- spend money on increasing the quality of life, which may include food, travel, outdoors, fashion, etc.
--- create a circle of like minded friends and social support
--- have wonderful sex and social variety
--- enjoy the freedom to live a flexible, independent, and traveling life.
--- experience things that take a bit more money and or more time, in ways others can't.
What's yours ?
1. Mentoring and spending quality time with my nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great-nephews, and any other kids who occasionally want and desperately need tough love from a take-no-prisoners Auntee who's not afraid to set...it...off !
2. Shamelessly promoting the child-free lifestyle (https://www.facebook.com/thechildfreechoice) and birth control awareness (Bedsider Birth Control Support Network) – simultaneously – in order to decrease the number of unwanted and unloved children in foster care, juvenile detention facilities, abusive homes, abusive environments, child prostitution rings, living on the streets, living in homeless shelters, etc.
4. Eradicating the stigma and perceived "selfishness" associated with the child-free by choice lifestyle. Ask a kid in foster care who they think is more selfish:
A: a child-free by choice person who stands in their truth and freely admits that they have neither the patience, the money, the time, nor the desire to be a full-time parent.
B: parents who spend thousands of dollars on in-vitro fertilization to have just one child.
C: parents who have child after child after child while half a million children sit in foster care day after day after day.
D: parents who spend thousands of dollars traveling to foreign countries to adopt foreign kids.
5. Toying with the idea of trying to organize the first annual conference of child-free folks. The NotMom.com (Imagining A Hotel Full of Childless Women | TheNotMom) is considering it, but nothing has been decided yet. I hope it happens; we'll see .
1. Mentoring and spending quality time with my nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great-nephews, and any other kids who occasionally want and desperately need tough love from a take-no-prisoners Auntee who's not afraid to set...it...off !
2. Shamelessly promoting the child-free lifestyle (https://www.facebook.com/thechildfreechoice) and birth control awareness (Bedsider Birth Control Support Network) – simultaneously – in order to decrease the number of unwanted and unloved children in foster care, juvenile detention facilities, abusive homes, abusive environments, child prostitution rings, living on the streets, living in homeless shelters, etc.
4. Eradicating the stigma and perceived "selfishness" associated with the child-free by choice lifestyle. Ask a kid in foster care who they think is more selfish:
A: a child-free by choice person who stands in their truth and freely admits that they have neither the patience, the money, the time, nor the desire to be a full-time parent.
B: parents who spent thousands of dollars on in-vitro fertilization to have just one child.
C: parents who have child after child after child while half a million children sit in foster care day after day after day.
D: parents who spend thousands of dollars traveling to foreign countries to adopt foreign kids.
5. Toying with the idea of trying to organize the first annual conference of child-free folks. The NotMom.com (Imagining A Hotel Full of Childless Women | TheNotMom) is considering it, but nothing has been decided yet. I hope it happens; we'll see .
I was rabidly childfree up until my 40's and then had a sudden change of heart. Now I realize that, honestly, I was fooling myself all those years. So forgive me if I take this with a huge grain of salt. Most of the 'childfree by choice' only think they've chosen it, or they would be so defensive about it. That said, it's fine not to have children - I just think most of the above falls under the category of methinks she doth protest too much.
I was rabidly childfree up until my 40's and then had a sudden change of heart. Now I realize that, honestly, I was fooling myself all those years. So forgive me if I take this with a huge grain of salt. Most of the 'childfree by choice' only think they've chosen it, or they would be so defensive about it. That said, it's fine not to have children - I just think most of the above falls under the category of methinks she doth protest too much.
So you're saying that child-free by choice people are in some kind of delusional denial ?
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We actually have an entire family of invisible cats so if referring to a pet as your 'baby' is a mental disorder, we should obviously in the soft room with our reversible jackets by now. :roll eyes:
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