People are sharing why they don't want to have children, and it's opening a conversation around parenting we don't discuss enough. It all started when Reddit user u/an_iconoclast asked others to share the reasons they NEVER want to have kids. Here are some of the top-voted responses:
1."I have never seen a person with children and thought to myself, 'I want that life.'"
2."I'm too mentally ill from childhood trauma and have various autoimmune diseases. It wouldn’t be fair to have a child when I’m not completely present for them. I love kids, but not for me."
3."Once I'm a mom, I can never not be a mom. I like deciding what I can do whenever I want to without having to care for a child. I feel like a partner is already enough 'compromise' (for lack of a better word) of free time."
4."I understand the immense responsibility and sacrifice they are, and choose instead to work on myself and continue to nurture my own experiences and growth through the one life I have."
5."Pregnancy is terrifying to me. I never want to try it."
6."I've just never had that desire. I always thought it would 'kick in' as I got older, but no. It's been kinda hard to come to terms with it in regards to society’s standards and expectations."
7."I don’t want to go through birth and I don’t like the baby stage. Children and toddlers are fun and can be adorable, but not 24/7. I like money and the peace of mind that I won’t do anything to screw up their lives, and finally, I'm not responsible or mature enough."
8."I love my life too much. I hate mess and noise, I love traveling whenever I like, I love going for trips and meals out with my husband, and I love being able to do what I want whenever I want. I don't want to spend my days listening to crying, arguing, whining, doing the school run in the rain, and shopping for food. The planet has plenty of humans and we have done a great job of wrecking the planet and treating animals so cruelly, I don't want to add to that problem."
9."In my opinion, I should justify why I want kids instead of finding reasons why I don't want them. In my case, I don't have a reason to want them."
10."On the relationships front, I remember seeing a statistic that more marriages with kids end in divorce than marriages without kids — having kids wrecks marriages. Other studies have found that child-free couples are FAR happier than couples with kids."
11."I don’t have the delusion that having children will somehow guarantee love or that I won’t be alone on my deathbed. Lots of people are alone on their deathbed anyway (I work in end-of-life care). Also, given the state of the Earth with regards to climate change, I feel it’s kinda shitty to keep making more humans. We probably can’t turn this ship around."
12."Our society is structured so that nearly everyone but the wealthy are living hand-to-mouth. I feel no security in my life and find life stressful. I can't imagine how bad that would be if I had to worry about another soul."
16."I'm the kind of person that often changes his mind. Like, to do whatever he wants and go back if need be. Where will my return option be if I have a child?"
