what does it feel like to want to have kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And if you can't understand that bringing a child into the world and raising them with love is more meaningful to most people than climbing some BS corporate ladder... well... frankly I'm glad your DNA won't be included in the next generation

This is OP - and I realize this is sort of a trolly response, but it's one I'd actually like to address. I think a lot of people assume that people - like me - decide not to have kids because we put career ahead of family. I'm sure that's true for some people. But it's actually not the case for me or for many of the other people without kids who I know. For many of us, not having kids has given us a lot of flexibility NOT to have to climb the corporate ladder. I know a lot of really interesting people with kids - and I also know a lot of really interesting people without kids. People who are pursuing the sorts of jobs that it might be hard t do if you needed to make enough $$ to save for college, or live in a good school district.

Anyway, I don't mean to sound defensive. It's just a strange stereotype of people with no kids - that we're all wearing suits on the weekends and using all that time we're not with kids to go earn some more money. I guess I should say - I am happy to answer anyone's questions about what it's like to not want kids, if anyone has any.

Again: I really do appreciate those who took the time to give such thoughtful responses.

Hi OP. I'm the quoted PP. You made some good points. My trollish sounding post was mostly in response to the poster on the previous page who said women only have kids because they can't find anything else meaningful to do with their lives. (Wrote two posts back to back and this one got bumped to next page).

Your point about being able to do any job you want without having to afford daycare, college, house in the best area, etc is a very valid point.

I have a baby and plan to have another kid -- I couldn't imagine a life with no kids and no family of my own though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think having children was simply in my DNA so it was never a yes or no decision. It was really a when and how many decision praying that it would work out and it did.

No, it's LITERALLY in your DNA.

[Anonymous]

I always knew I wanted kids. I was never a "maternal" type. I didn't babysit growing up and never gravitated towards babies and children in my partying 20s. When I hit 30, something in my brain said it's time. Luckily, I was in a position to get the ball rolling, so to speak. I got married and had two kids. I was unable to have a third and I try hard not to regret that too much. For me, it was never a question. It's all the good things and the bad things that everyone says it is and it's awesome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I always knew I wanted kids. I was never a "maternal" type. I didn't babysit growing up and never gravitated towards babies and children in my partying 20s. When I hit 30, something in my brain said it's time. Luckily, I was in a position to get the ball rolling, so to speak. I got married and had two kids. I was unable to have a third and I try hard not to regret that too much. For me, it was never a question. It's all the good things and the bad things that everyone says it is and it's awesome.

I'm the PP from above and I'll also add that I totally get the pros of NOT having kids. We have plenty of friends who have chosen to not have children and they're super interesting. Our path and their paths have diverged for now but we hope the paths come back together in the future.

[Anonymous]

This is OP again - I just want to say again how much I appreciate the thoughtful answers here. And I especially appreciate that this thread didn't get ugly or angry, but stayed open and respectful.