Anyone feel guilty for having kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not guilty, but I could have easily gone without them.
I told my boys that they don't have to have kids. I told them what kids will do to them and their time.

How did that conversation unfold and how do you think it made them feel?

[Anonymous]

Just because we are not in the dark ages anymore, it does not mean that we have to rejoice.

Life on earth is a hell for millions, and I hope my kids do not become part of that statistic.

So yes, I regret and worry about the future they will have. Not specifically due to any single catastrophe, but just the randomness of it all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Frankly the earth needs to have a human culling and that is what catastrophic climate change will bring. Humans will survive but in far fewer numbers and with a reset to the natural world, and that’s okay. Invasive and destructive species can only thrive for a short time before they exhaust the carrying capacity of the ecosystem and that is what is happening in the near future of the earth.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/08/world-scientists-climate-failure-survey-global-temperature

I couldn’t make a good faith argument that the present condition of humanity represents a pinnacle or ideal of existence - in many ways things are much better for humans today than ever before, I concede that point, but that’s not saying much. Human society is still violent and cruel and greatly lacking in social/economic justice. Hopefully as our species struggles through the great upheavals that catastrophic climate change will bring, we will reshape our existence into something more resembling a humane world.

Another Guardian article. Climate scientists feel hopeless about the future.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/nginteractive/2024/may/08/hopeless-and-broken-why-the-worlds-top-climate-scientists-are-in-despair

[Anonymous]

I think my 14 year old son is correct when he says he's optimistic about the future from the context that humans have been around for a hell of a long time. We got through the Plague, Dark Ages and all kinds of messes and we're still here. Things evolve and while it may not be as easy or fun or what we hope it was. our kids will live their own ways in the environment they have. Who knows? Maybe in order to survive, we find a new paradigm of living that is even better than what we knew?! I don't think you should feel guilty. I think you should pray and hope as hard as you can that your kids will be grateful for the opportunity ti live because we all need that kind of luck moving forward . But it's possible to thrive for sure!

[Anonymous]

^ PS I ageee with the PP about the culling of humans and a reboot. But the point is that humans will make it. Every civilization has gone through death only for a new one to rise. In that way, I agree we're headed for extinction but in the sense that there's always hope, I'm optimistic that there will be a way to develop a system that can be easier to live in.

[Anonymous]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/10/climate-scientists-starting-families-children

Climate scientists are balking at having kids, too.

[Anonymous]

Nope! Most of us are leaving quality humans capable of progress

[Anonymous]

Yes. I wish I didn’t have kids. I hope to God they don’t have kids. This world is so awful I didn’t realize how bad it is until after I had kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. I wish I didn’t have kids. I hope to God they don’t have kids. This world is so awful I didn’t realize how bad it is until after I had kids.

in the history of man, this is probably the best time ever to live, when only 200 years ago, 90% of us would be in extreme poverty.

But it's not your fault you think that way. It is because times are good, that we make up things to fear, because that is how our minds evolved.
We evolved to look for danger in order to survive in a world was more threatening and hard. And while the world has changed, our genes haven't. Can one rise above these feelings? IDK, ghost in the machine maybe.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/spellbound/202011/is-your-threat-brain-always

[Anonymous]

I do OP. It kind of consumes me. I was in 3rd trimester when “Hot Flat & Crowded” came out. I felt nauseous.

Climate change / global warming was not in the zeitgeust in the early oughts. Nothing but
It’ll be warm. Not storms, raging fires, droughts & the weather at the time still felt predictable.

Planet is becoming a hellcape. I really think about it everyday