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More and more people are choosing a childfree life according to an article in Time magazine that I stumbled across. After only reading the title many emotions stirred up within me about the topic. I hadn’t even read the article and I already had a negative reaction. The title bothered and interested me so much that I subscribed to Time magazine just so I could read the article online.
According to the article more women are choosing to be child free. They are choosing this path on purpose for a variety of reason which I will touch on later.
The author of the Time article writes that the birthrate in the United States is the lowest it has ever been in American History. This includes the time during the Great Depression when fertility was extremely low. The fertility rate from 2007 to 2011 dropped 9%. Even before the recession in 2008 women ages 40 to 44 that had not given birth had risen 80% from 10% to 18%, since 1976. That is a pretty incredible difference.
An Interesting Statistic
With all this gloom and doom with the lower birth rates in the United States a funny thing has happened. The baby product industry is at an all time high which reaches nearly 50 billion in 2013. I personally think this spike in the baby product industry is a generation issue. I found myself as a young parent buying more toys and gadgets then my children could play with. It’s only after being a parent for 8 years have I started to curve my spending habits. I think parents more than ever want their children to have everything and want for nothing. The 50 billion dollar industry might be good for the economy but is not good for society.
Why Aren’t You Having Kids?
This topic in the article gave a few reasons why some women were choosing not to have children
Women of different ethnic groups didn’t want to fall into a specific stereotype. Latin or Hispanic women are suppose to have children as if it is a given in their culture. One Hispanic female describes it as,“ family is your pride, your success.” Though I am not Hispanic, my wife comes from similar roots and they are very big on family. My wife isn’t defined by how big a family she has but it was very much expected that we have a child right after getting married. We didn’t have to have a child but we wanted one so it really didn’t matter what family pressure was applied.
Women Just Don’t Want to Have Kids
Some women just want freedom to do what they want when they want without it being complicated. Whether it’s vacations, sleeping in or just going out at a moment’s notice, some women don’t want to have to worry about kids when doing these activities. Of course any woman could do these things with kids in the picture but it would be much more of a hassle to make it happen.
Society has Pushed Women in a Specific Direction
Most parents tell their kids to do things in a specific order. They tell them to go to college, get a good job, buy a home, get married and then have kids. Buying a home and getting married gets swapped around but usually having a child is last on the list.
Philip Morgan who is the director of the Carolina Population Center told Time that women put off children for so long because of their job, education or the lack of good partners, that they enjoy their lifestyle and freedom that they don’t want it to change.
I think that more and more women are working and putting more times towards their careers. With career growth can come advancement in a company and less time for anything else in life (like time for themselves). It’s more about being career focused and moving up in society. Women (and couples) want the nice home, nice cars and money to have nice things. Its what many people want but in this case they may put those things before a family.
Philip is Onto Something- And You May Be Missing Out
It’s about being selfish. It’s about not giving up something for someone else. And that is ok…for you. You have a lifestyle that you want to maintain and not have interrupted. I get that. You are likely doing society a favor to some extent. There are many parents that neglect their children because something else is more important than them.
There are parents that are more concerned about freedom and enjoying the night life than tucking their children in at night.
Parenting is more work. But it is a job that is easy to become passionate about. If you’re familiar with being passionate about something, you understand that the passion you have for something isn’t work.
Parenting is about being selfless and it is not for everyone. Being a parent doesn’t mean your life stops rather it gets better. Being a parent is an adventure, journey and experience that will beat the childless life any day of the week. It comes with trials, rewards and blessings that you would have to experience to wrap your head around the feelings that comes with being a parent.
I am blesses beyond belief to have the opportunity to raise, shape, guide, mentor, love, kiss, hug, laugh and care for my children. So to be honest, you are missing out on one of the greatest experiences of a life time if having a child is not something you choose to do.
Don’t Have Children
Not having children is a personal choice. If your decision is not to have children then I think you are probably making a good decision. You shouldn’t feel obligated to be a parent and being a parent might not be in the cards for you.
Don’t have a child unless you absolutely want one and know what comes with the blessing. Go sew your oats before you take on the having a child experience so you won’t feel as if you are missing out on something. I waited to have children until I was married and I knew what I wanted in life.
All I can really say is that if you don’t want to have children then you shouldn’t. Do it when you are ready and willing to share your time and your life with something very precious.
Andrew
To see the Time article click here.
