Reply to Why do people say its ‘selfish’ to not want kids?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]For the record I do not think it's selfish to not have kids.

But I think when people say this, they say it from the perspective of having kids and knowing that having kids means putting your kids well-being first. You have to because your kids rely on you for everything and they just need so much. So the experience of parenting is an experience of giving. Sometimes it's the first or most striking experience with having to care for another human being in this way.

So I think people look at their own experience and see the selflessness parenting has required and can include that someone choosing not to be a parent is doing so because they aren't ready to be selfless in that way. I don't think this because I think degree of selflessness good parenting requires comes as a surprise to most people, as does your own willingness to do it because the level of love you feel for your kids also comes as a surprise. You think you know but you don't. People who say childless people are selfish are reasoning backwards but forgetting what it was like to actually not have kids.[/quote]

[b]If you don't have kids, your daily life is centered around you. How you want to spend your time, on a mundane level and more holistically.[/b] That's not selfish but it's just where the focal point is and what makes the most sense. Apart from extenuating circumstances like being a FT caregiver for another family member.

With kids, their needs are leading everything. From meeting infant needs to toddler demands to financial decisions, where you live, etc. Thats very different from being an aunt etc, even a very loving and helpful one.[/quote]

Depends on what you do with your time, really. A nurse often goes 12 or more hours without urinating on shift, because the needs of patients come first. Sure, she made the choice to commit to them b taking the job, but that's not that dissimilar to committing to being a parent.

Try telling a construction worker putting up drywall that how he spends his time is based on meeting his own needs. Or an Amazon warehouse worker who's being timed by the half minute.

It really depends, you know? And I think a lot of people without children get challenged with[b] "who's going to take care of you in your own age? You'll die alone.[/b]" It's a selfish justification for having children that comes up **all the time** on this board.

Parents can't walk away from their job as parents, and I think that's what is often overlooked. But that doesn't mean other people always have lives that revolve around meeting their own needs in the moment and holistically. It does mean, however, that if they are choosing to put other people's needs before their own, it is a choice they recommit to each and every day, not something they are committed to because of a decision made long ago, and that they cannot get out of. It's an ongoing choice, when instead they could leave. That seems to be worth a little something, too.  [/quote]
This is definitely one of the most selfish reasons to have kids. [/quote]

It's a terrible reason to have kids, but realistically it's a huge benefit.

People without kids wind up a corpse stuffed in a garbage bag behind Michaels. [/quote]
I'm assuming this is a troll, because that's not even close to true. [/quote]

If you, at any point, thought the suggestion that everyone who doesn't have kids gets their corpse thrown in a dumpster behind Michaels, was a serious one, then I think it's time to logoff. Do you know how many people die every day and the relatively limited number of Michael's locations? It's not even an international chain, don't you think people would notice if millions of corpses were being imported tot he US and thrown in massive piles behind craft shop locations? C'mon, lady... who is trolling now?[/quote]

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