Recently, child-free adults shared what their lives look like without kids, and how they feel about it. Here are a few more totally honest additions:
1. "I love it! I’m one of those very lucky people who no one close to me questions my choices. I also have no problem shutting down ignorant morons and I can sleep as late as I want…get up as early as I want, and smoke weed all day (or not) and I know in the end it will be the same strangers caring for me as people with kids. I’ll just have more money! Early retirement here I COME!!"
2. "I decided if I didn’t have kids by the time I was 28 I was gonna skip it, and I don’t regret that one bit. My reasoning was my grandparents and parents all died before they were 55. I have terrible genes and lived in a house with multiple smokers. My mother smoked while she was pregnant (different times). So I keep assuming I might die young so wanted to make sure the kid was at least 18 before I died. Of course, you know the universe is gonna mess with me and I’ll live to be 102! But, I still won’t regret not having any children."
3. "I love kids and I adore working in pediatrics but I am legit, not hardcore enough to be a parent!"
4. "I never wanted kids, and when my sister had a baby at 16 (that I helped raise from 13 to 18), it solidified in me that I can’t emotionally handle raising anyone and never will."
—S
5. "I've never wanted children. Ever. I was raised by a woman who had kids because she was taught she had to, but she never seemed to like being a parent. I probably would have been the same. The 'You'll change your mind when it's your own child' argument doesn't seem to hold water."
6. "Moms are miraculous. Period. I have had the amazing joy and pleasure of being there for every ultrasound and class and checkup and eventually the birth of a child, and it was amazing. I will literally never get tired of watching birth videos, women are so strong and so powerful and so resilient! That being said, I never wanted to be married and I never wanted children. I’m so chill with being a 'spinster.' I would not change either of those things for the world; I’m so glad I don’t have to feel the guilt of leaving a child in this shit world to deal with all the messes and violence."
7. "I am the eldest of eight. My youngest sister was born when I was 24. I hated being around babies and children, even when I was a child myself, and have never once desired to have kids of my own. When I met my boyfriend ten years ago, we actually discussed children very soon into our relationship as I have known people who broke up after a decade of love because one wanted children and the other didn't. I knew my boyfriend was my soulmate (yes, I know, gross) so I needed to be sure we were on the same page. Thankfully, his opinion of kids matched mine. Ten years down the line, I am now disabled due to a genetic disorder. I am so glad that I don't have kids because raising one would be hell on earth as just looking after myself is exhausting, but I also would not wish my illness on anyone and I would most likely pass it on to my children. It would be selfish and inhumane for me to have children now."
8. "I knew from the minute I did my first babysitting stint in high school that no way, it just wasn't for me. I never looked back. There's no deep political or environmental reason. I just don't like children and just didn't want to deal with all that children come with. It never seemed worth it to me. I'm in my 40s and have never had a single regret."
9. "At 35 and divorced, people have now accepted that kids are not for me. There was a time in my early 20s, but with hindsight, it was more for familial stability. The toughest part for me is that people assume I don't want anything to do with kids. I'm great with kids, and have the title of best aunt ever! I just want to give them back after a weekend, and do my own thing. It's exhausting, and as someone with their own mental health problems, there's no way I would be able to raise my own child how I would want to. Luckily my partner is fully on board, for his own reasons, so it's not something to worry about between us. Not wanting children is only ever other people's problem."
10. "I’ve known my whole life I didn’t want kids. I grew up in a cultish Christian environment and I resented the sexism and the fact I was expected to have kids. Male classmates and family members would always tell me I would change my mind and I would get so mad that they felt they had the right to tell me what I wanted. Aside from that, I’ve never liked kids. They are loud and smelly and needy. I’m perpetually tired physically and mentally and I’m very impatient. I would be a terrible mom. I’ve always dated with the hope that I would be with them for a very long time, so whenever I would have a first date, that was one of my questions. I wasn’t going to waste my time and their time by not being on the same page about such a huge decision. Let me tell you it is really hard to find someone who doesn’t want kids! I am now happily married and kid-free."
11. "I’m more than happy simply being the 'weird aunt' to all my friends’ kids. I get to have the amount of child interaction I want without the legal obligations."
12. "It's 100% a selfish choice for me. I love my time to myself. I love my house clean and without plastic baby dishes and toys everywhere. I love it quiet. I'm impatient. I have anger issues. I would SNAP. I decided at 17 after my first pregnancy scare that I would never follow through with a pregnancy. Fortunately, I've been careful since and only had a couple more scares."
13. "I'm totally supportive of people who choose to not have children. But for me personally, though, I have always wanted children, to be married, and to have a family, I've wanted that more than anything in the world. Next week is my 39th birthday and I'm still single and childless. I sink into depression over it almost daily now, wondering if my life is even worth living without love in it. I have a good family of parents, siblings, aunts/uncles, and now nieces and nephews, but literally every adult in my family has their significant other, and their own family to love and go home to. I am alone. I am heartbroken."
14. "I'm 37 and had some health problems two years ago that made my choice not to have children permanent. My brother has five kids so we joke that he had enough for both of us."
15. "I'm child-free for so many reasons, but the main one, I think, after years of pondering, was growing up with parents who should never have had kids. I grew up wondering why these people brought me to life when they were seemingly so bothered by my mere existence. I was just in the way, someone to place somewhere else when something more important than me showed up, and feelings were only for grownups. I always felt like a burden and in my young mind, that meant that children must be problems. So before I can even remember, I was telling people I would never have kids. I don't know how normal that is for a 2-year-old. I'm not doing this to someone else; I have suffered enough for four lifetimes and it ends with me."
16. "My wife and I tried to have children back in the 1980s but were unsuccessful. Once we were done spending lots of money trying and realized that it just wasn't going to happen, we were good with it. We then got to spend all the money we earned on ourselves and watched our friends say to us how lucky we were that don't have any children. Now in our 70s, I think, 'Who would want to bring children into this mess that we are currently in?'"
17. "I’m 40, I met my husband when I was 24, and married him 2019. Life is fantastic (with the odd up and down) without children. I'm still getting people telling me I’ll change my mind, it’s not too late, I know someone who had their first at 42, etc. That’s great, but don’t you think I might already know that I don’t want a child? Or should I say 'we don’t,' but as my husband points out (who doesn’t want children himself), it’s really my choice! It’s women’s bodies that go through all the changes and nine months without wine!"
