What do you think about childless/childfree people?

I've read quite a few books about childless folks. I'm 26...went to a lot of online forums including the popular one over at livejournal. Maybe its because I live in the west, I don't know but I haven't really experienced the type of pressures and biases that other childless folks have ';the pressure to have kids.';





Do you think the childless have legitimate complaints or not? I'm just wondering if a lot of them come from religious backgrounds because in religion its important to get married and populate the earth according to the protestant bible. I'm agnostic myself (which means you don't know if god exists or not but that's another conversation).





Anyway I guess I don't feel the pressure that other childless people feel and I'm just wondering if its just me, or maybe they overblow the topic? Help me out here. :-PWhat do you think about childless/childfree people?
I am a mother of one (and another on the way). I don't pressure childless folk to have kids, because I don't think it would be fair on the kids to have parents that weren't really interested in having them. However, I have known several childless-by-choice couples who have had 'accidents', who became the most awesome parents in the world.


I think that because becoming parents really is one of the most awesome life-changing things you can do with your life, for men and women, people with kids pressure their childless friends to kinda try to share the love :) The thing about people with kids is that they have lived on both sides of the fence, whereas childless folk only know the one side of life. So I think parents can be patronising because they think they know more/better than childless people. I however, think it's up to the individual. There is no doubt though that parents and the childless are a breed apart.What do you think about childless/childfree people?
Parenting isn't for everyone. Some people just don't want to be parents -- they prefer to concentrate on their careers, they prefer the adult life, or they just don't want to raise kids. And that's fine -- they're better off remaining childless by choice than giving in to family pressure and having a child they really don't want. We certainly have enough people out there to populate the earth.
I think whether or not to have children is a personal choice and the people who try to pressure others to be parents need their heads examined. It is no one's business whether ot not you feel children are right for your life. They aren't for everyone.
If someone is comfortable with their decision to not have children then they will not feel the pressure. I think if they go and have children because others were putting pressure on them then some part of them really does want to have kids.
To each their own.


Some people want children, others don't. It's a personal decision that everyone makes sooner or later. I see nothing wrong with either choice.
We are raising my niece at the moment (she will start high school in the fall) and even though we HAVE a child/dependent at home, we are CONSTANTLY asked/hassled about when we are going to have a child. And no, we and our families are not religious. I think more than being religious there is this very basic assumption that people only get married when they want to have children (which is absurd but the 1950s mentality certainly is holding on in many areas). Therefore those who get married and do not have children right away fall outside of the norm. Those who are different have ALWAYS been the focus of scorn, ridicule, and discrimination.





Just last weekend we were with family at a graduation party and I was asked, repeatedly, when we were thinking about ';starting'; a family (as if my niece doesn't exist or isn't really a part of our family). I was not asked about beginning my new job in the fall, about our new house, our new (to us, anyway) car, or anything of actual relevance - such as news events, politics, or anything I'm remotely personally interested in. All I was asked was when we are going to contribute to the further overpopulation of the planet.





Peace,


Jenn