Oh go fuck yourself, Joe O'Connor.

[dzuunmod]

Indeed, there are more finite calculations involved: Career demands. Timing. Not having a partner, or not having the right partner. Flaky fears about overburdening our already overburdened planet, personal choice and a bunch of other hooey that serve to hide the fact that happy couples that choose not to have kids are, at root, well, let’s see:

Comments

[wendykh]

I don't get why people who think childfree by choice people are selfish act like that's a bad thing. I mean... aren't those the people who SHOULDN'T have kids??? Are they under the impression having kids will suddenly make them *not selfish*? Because I can hand a list of names of people who are selfish as all fuck who didn't get one lick better once they did have kids. Some got even worse in fact.

So if you think people who don't want kids are selfish... and??? the problem with that IS????

I admit there's a certain *type* of childfree by choice woman in her early 30s to late 40s I just cannot stand but it's not her lack of children that makes her so unbearable. The lack of children is simply a symptom of her [attributes I dislike].

[wendykh]

Also, the description of the childfree people makes childfree life sound totally appealing. And like kids are an excuse for being haggard. Kids don't always make one haggard, but a loss of joie de vivre sure does

[dzuunmod]

Re: your last secret I always felt that way too! Like, all it takes is a straight-up comparison to another underappreciated, taken-for-granted, important job: teacher.

What's more difficult, watching the 1 or 5 kid(s) that you've raised yourself (and thus had the opportunity to impart on them your values, beliefs, etc) everyday, or watching 30 kids from all walks of life everyday, and trying to get them to learn?

I don't say that to denigrate stay-at-home-moms, and I realize that teachers to varying extents are able to punch the clock (although I'll tell you now that any teacher who lives in a community in the Yukon outside of Whitehorse - whether it's college, high school or elementary takes ALL KINDS of requests after hours), but it's not as difficult as teaching. Or nursing. Or any number of other jobs.

[wendykh]

Yeah. I think a lot of women mean they don't like childcare/housework when they say that. Which is perfectly fine. But I didn't like working at Burger King either. That doesn't mean it was the "hardest job in the world." I got into this HUGE ass fight with this woman one time who had one (1) child who was NOT special needs, age four (4) and she stayed home with him for six months and her house was a disaster and he destroyed lots ofpersonal property... red marker on white couches type stuff. I'm like wtf were you doing all day? She insis this was harder than her 70+ hour work weeks in finance. I'm like bitch please you just don'tlike doing it. If she REALLY thinks it's so hard why is she hiring a unilingual mexican nanny for peanuts under the table and working her like a dog?

[dzuunmod]

Absolutely. Is his goal with this sorta column to shame childfree people into having children they don't really want?

[audrawilliams]

Doubly weird that is a few months ago he was all THERE ARE TOO MANY BABIES.

[wendykh]

wtf. he sounds like someone who gets all hung up on Internet Drama of the Moment. I guess he's of the mind EVERY person should procreate exactly once and only once or something?

[dzuunmod]

That's funny.