Who Else Is Childfree Here?

[bean]

I've always disliked children's laughter and voice because it is too high pitched in an annoying way. I've heard high-pitched voices that are somehow soothing...kids aren't usually among those. I've learned to get past that, realizing it's not their fault they sound annoying.

I agree.

Give me the meows and purrs of a cat any day.

The thought of having to take my child to things like school programs, and afterschool classes and the like also isn't something that I can see myself being overjoyed about at this point in my life. I work over a lot, and have other things going on. I like the freedom to be able to do what I need to do every day, and not just on the weekends.

Sitting here thinking about it, I could also end up with some ghastly creature that loved to listen to pop or country music alllll day, and that wanted to try out for cheerleading.....GAAAAAHHHH!!!!!

I feel the same way. Especially the last part.

The more I think about it, reproducing may not be a good idea. At this point I find more negatives than positives. I value quiet, time alone, freedom, and my sanity way too much.

Edited April 16, 2011 by bean

[XXmollyslips]

I've been meaning to post in this thread about how much I don't enjoy children but I work at an elementary school lol and all I need is someone to look over my shoulder and read that I don't much care for the company of these lil angels.

IDK kids creep me out and make me uneasy. And I am far too irresponsible to even consider having one of my own. I mostly just have no interest in them at all. I don't mind that other people have them but if I go somewhere on my free time and there is like a whole fucking hoard of children I will definitely leave that place.

Who knows maybe I'll get old and my ovaries will skip a beat and I'll adopt. I can't say I won't but I don't think so.

[BloodCupcake]

I like kids, but don't have any. I'd be screwed (literally and figuratively) if I had a kid. I can't see how people find kids annoying though. I mean at time yes, but kids are precious (I'm thinking of my adorable 2 yr old nephew as I type this). We all ourselves were kids once. I guess some people just aren't made for kids. On one hand though, my sister told me I don't need kids. I'd be a dingy mom. Lol. I resent that Tavira!

[FarrIL]

Ran into another good reason not to have kids. A woman comes in with her toddler son and I seat them at a booth. Little boy wants to sit at a table meant for 5+ people, so obviously I'm not going to seat a mom and her son at a table that big. Boy isnt having it. He promptly heads right for the door, harping "I DONT NEED ANYONE! I DONT NEED YOU MOMMY!" and after a few minutes of this, mom goes to try and lure him away from the door... he heads back for the bigger table. Again, gets a no. He goes to head back for the door, this time I'm purposefully in the way and I block him repeatedly.

Mom picks son up.

"THWAP" goes son's hand, right to mom's face. Mom promptly removes son from restaurant.

Yeah, if that were my kid, I'd do the same thing... only give him a sore ass once we got out to the car. NOT cool to hit your parents.

Today was definitely a good reason to keep Mini-FarrILs non-existant.

[Destroit]

Ran into another good reason not to have kids. A woman comes in with her toddler son and I seat them at a booth. Little boy wants to sit at a table meant for 5+ people, so obviously I'm not going to seat a mom and her son at a table that big. Boy isnt having it. He promptly heads right for the door, harping "I DONT NEED ANYONE! I DONT NEED YOU MOMMY!" and after a few minutes of this, mom goes to try and lure him away from the door... he heads back for the bigger table. Again, gets a no. He goes to head back for the door, this time I'm purposefully in the way and I block him repeatedly.

Mom picks son up.

"THWAP" goes son's hand, right to mom's face. Mom promptly removes son from restaurant.

Yeah, if that were my kid, I'd do the same thing... only give him a sore ass once we got out to the car. NOT cool to hit your parents.

Today was definitely a good reason to keep Mini-FarrILs non-existant.

Shit like that makes me wish it were still legal to smack the shit out of your own kids and other people's kids!! Ohhhh the good old days, when things both made sense and worked. Kids are allowed so much power over their parents now, it's ridiculous.

Shit like that makes me wish it were still legal to smack the shit out of your own kids and other people's kids!! Ohhhh the good old days, when things both made sense and worked. Kids are allowed so much power over their parents now, it's ridiculous.

Edited April 28, 2011 by Chernobyl

[Joey Deadcat]

Now there's a kid what needs the Joe Jackson treatment.

[DJ Nocker]

I've been getting depressed because so many people are having kids and then boom...you don't see them anymore because their free-lives are over. Pest and I really need to scout out other people/couples that aren't planning to have kids to try to bond with, it's getting really depressing. And then I'm not going to lie, I get jealous when someone who got knocked up gets showered with praise and attention for having welfare kids, when NOBODY has ever given me a pat on the back or has told me "good job" for anything in my life (edit: Boshy has, but she's my mom so that doesn't really count), and I'm almost through with college, am in an amazingly stable relationship, and we OWN a house straight out. Yet people we know are plopping out welfare kids to go live in a van down by the river, and everyone acts like those people are deities who sacrificed so much. So yeah, I'm jealous and pissed off at the world. I hate the fact that I could build a fucking time machine and unless I'm standing there prettied-up with a baby in my arms, nobody would give a fuck.

*end emo babbling...*

Me and Jackie arent going to ever have kids (assuming we stay together forever ) So you can be friends with us...even though you are both boba lovers...

[Joey Deadcat]

[Joey Deadcat]

[Fierce Critter]

Somewhere back in the archives of DGN, I think I started a similar thread.

I haven't read the posts here yet, just posting a quick reply.

My husband and I are childfree by choice.

I'll read the posts here and post a better response when I have time.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

One of the many things that I've lost friends to is the spawns. Not that they never talk to me, they just are in the "kid zone" and are busy and/or if they do have free time its some kid-related activity which, typically drives me up a wall with the anxiety (or puts me to sleep). I'm not against children, its noble work. But, the way my life situation is? Can't picture it. Which, the older your pool of potential friends gets, the more and more likely that is.

Older kids are different, like younger teenagers you can talk to them / hang out with them as if they were you know, just another person in the group, assuming they aren't pains in the ass or brain dead that is. For some reason the "Cute" thing doesn't do it for me, if you cant speak and have a real conversation just "being cute" gets old after about 3 minutes if there isn't anything else to go along with it it. I guess that's the same reason I haven't given "hot chicks" nearly the annoying amount of extra-credit they get from most people.

Not that the larger issue is even an issue, would take a S.O. to make one of these spawns that I'm not really interested in making.

[Shaun]

When my brother spawned the family kept asking if I was going to spoil it. My answer: nope, I'll cya when its old enough to carry a conversation. Kids make me more uncomfortable then adults .

[Joey Deadcat]

"Breeder Bingo" - it's what many CF women have to put up with:

[Enishi]

Right now prefer having peace of mind and backup money in my bank account.

[Queen of Foxes]

Count me in. I don't want kids -.-

[havoc]

with my 3 children it was not a matter of being selfish. It was a matter of drunkin stupidity,she cheated on me later on,i left her ass and now i have to pay the bitch child support,$150 bucks a week but theres only 7 years left on that.so i dont hate my childern i hate the mother!

[Enishi]

Edited September 24, 2011 by Enishi

[FarrIL]

Havoc brings up another good point. Say you have kids but then years down the road, you get a divorce/break up with your partner. Having kids makes it that much harder to cut ties with said partner, and you have to stay civil to each other the good of the kids well-being.

[phee]

I do have a question...

Do people who don't have kids feel pressured somehow to have kids by others (your parents don't count.)?

[Joey Deadcat]

I've been fortunate that I haven't really gotten that but many CF folks have (and still do) get "why don't you have kids?" or "but you would make a great parent" from friends, co-workers, and acquaintances.

[FarrIL]

I havent gotten the pressure from anyone really to have kids. One time, a group of women who brought their kids into Applebee's asked if I had any and I said "no" and one said profusely, "You would be a great mom." I think I bowed out of that gently by saying "Nah, I'll stay the cool aunt instead" and continued making faces at one of the kids.

I havent gotten any pressure from either of my sisters, nor my dad or stepmom. I'm not married, so I think that plays a big part in it. But I know I've already had a small talk with my middle sister, saying "You'll have the twins, Jeri will have all boys and I'll have non so I can spoil them all rotten."

[~Tszura~]

I do have a question...

Do people who don't have kids feel pressured somehow to have kids by others (your parents don't count.)?

I used to get pressure from co-workers at my old job. The ones who wanted to "spread the love," when I could hear them on the phone every ten minutes trying to manage some kid crisis from their little fleshies who were as little as 5 all the way up to adulthood. One thing they used to tell me was "who's going to take care of you when you're old?" My reply, "same person who's going to take care of you. No one." lol People always assume their children are going to take care of them when they get old, but I work in a nursing home, and see people dropping their parents off every day. The last statistic I saw was that about 1% of people end up in nursing homes, but I'm pretty sure that's on the rise. It doesn't matter if someone has 1 kid, or 10 kids. "Thanks for a great childhood, car, college, and putting a roof over my heard all those years dad. I'm sorry you have to stay here, but I just can't manage my life and yours. I'll come see you every week, I promise." Right.

My new co-workers don't bother me at all about it, which is nice. People out-and-about seem to feel free to grill others on why they chose not to have kids, but if someone tried to do the same to them, as in "why the hell did you have children?," oooooooooh, I bet that wouldn't go over so well, lol.

[Fierce Critter]

The only people who give me flack over this decision are strangers who feel like it's their duty to inform me I made a grave mistake.

Sometimes I think it's because they want those of us who choose to live life unencumbered by spawn to suffer the same misery as them. :D

[FarrIL]

You could always say "Oh I do have kids. I have three. They're furry, walk on all fours, use a litter box and sleep on my chest when I fall asleep on the couch."

Imagine the looks.

Or "I do have a kid... I just give him back to his real mother after her and daddy had their date night."

Not having kids makes it easier to babysit other peoples' kids. I love kids, love playing with them and watching movies with them and all that but if I had a kid of my own, and that kid was sick... I'd miss out on a chunk of spare cash. Which ends up inconveniencing more people than just me.

Not having kids, I think, also enabled me to put forth more effort when I tutored over the summer. My teacher herself admitted, "I dont think I could do it... deal with all these kids and then come home to my own." She's in her mid-30s and no babies for her. I think we both agreed that not having kids helped us apply more of ourselves to the job duties we were performing. Managing that many kids, even with just the two of us, got hectic at times. Doing that on lack of sleep because your own kid kept waking up.... no, I'll pass.

[phee]

I think people that decide to not have kids are being incredibly responsible. I would say over half of the people out there that have them shouldn't have been parents... those that decide not to I think just know themselves better than a lot of those who decide to.

As far as pets vs kids.... yeah not the same thing.... However I have been tempted to put a kid in a kennel and leave for a few hours.