Anonymous wrote:“Parenting is sometimes gross, but never lonely! You make it seem like it’s hard to be alone. Is it?”
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:"You were once a child. Did you think your opinion on children was influenced by how your mom viewed parenthood?"
Curious why you just mention the mom.
Because that’s who gets stuck raising the kids 80% of the time
Anonymous wrote:Well, since you don't want to ruin the friendship, just reply with "I heard you" then list out all the great things of having kids.
Anonymous wrote:Childfrees have a need for validation.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:OP, yiu sound like one of those parents who treats parenting with all the reverence of a born again secret cult member, that no one can possibly understand what an amazing, joyous, amazing, position it it is.
You took a compliment about how difficult parenting appears and turned it into a criticism.
Maybe I’m a different kind of parent, and I love my child like the sun and moon, and I wouldn’t change it for the world, but parenting is difficult some times. A lot of times. Yes, diapers are the standard of care for a period, but changing them is still gross. Scrubbing toilets is not my hobby, and I have to scrub them more with kids than I do with just adults around. There are mysterious sticky fingerprints in places I can’t fathom sticky fingerprints being. I haven’t had a full nights sleep in years.
Acting like your friend can’t appreciate to any degree how hard parenting is because she doesn’t have kids is disingenuous. No, you never get the full idea, but she obviously get it enough that she is trying to commiserate with you in the only way she knows how - by indicating how hard she sees you working. You’re the one choosing to be offended, and really, I think you just judge her for being child free because your new religion is children.
You need therapy.
Anonymous wrote:OP, yiu sound like one of those parents who treats parenting with all the reverence of a born again secret cult member, that no one can possibly understand what an amazing, joyous, amazing, position it it is.
You took a compliment about how difficult parenting appears and turned it into a criticism.
Maybe I’m a different kind of parent, and I love my child like the sun and moon, and I wouldn’t change it for the world, but parenting is difficult some times. A lot of times. Yes, diapers are the standard of care for a period, but changing them is still gross. Scrubbing toilets is not my hobby, and I have to scrub them more with kids than I do with just adults around. There are mysterious sticky fingerprints in places I can’t fathom sticky fingerprints being. I haven’t had a full nights sleep in years.
Acting like your friend can’t appreciate to any degree how hard parenting is because she doesn’t have kids is disingenuous. No, you never get the full idea, but she obviously get it enough that she is trying to commiserate with you in the only way she knows how - by indicating how hard she sees you working. You’re the one choosing to be offended, and really, I think you just judge her for being child free because your new religion is children.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Childfrees have a need for validation.
She is not child-free. She is child-less. An empty nester is child free.
Childfree by Choice is their preferred term - as opposed to infertile or whatever.
She is then Child Less By Choice. CLBC. Children are not cooties or debt that you need to be free of. Of course, you could be a parent who deserts his/her children or does not acknowledge them or murders them -- by choice!
Also, the C for Choice very often stands for C for Circumstance. Else, the passive-aggressive snide remarks would not flow out so easily.
No, I'm child-free, not child-less. You've clearly thought long and hard about this, spending so much time and energy on it indicates you regret your own choice to parent.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Let me preface this by saying I love this friend, and I don't want to ruin our friendship because I am very lonely. But she's continually making comments like "I am so glad I don't have kids" and "It must be so gross cleaning up a boy's toilet, I'm so glad I don't have to do that." I never even mentioned cleaning toilets! I never even complain about child-rearing, period. How do I respond to comments like these?
My childfree friend once said to me, "I didn't realize how hard it was having kids until I observed you (and dh) with your kids." I felt embarrassed and insulted, but she is my friend and I trust she meant no offense. Childfree adults have no idea what it feels like to have a child and no way can they understand how changing your own kid's diaper is not gross, it is standard care. The reward is the joy, love and smiles they bring into your life.
How in the WORLD is that insulting?
She said we make parenting look difficult, essentially. We have a child centered home where the kids' needs and feelings are considered in our choices, etc. In our style of parenting, there are no selfish parental indulgences if they would interfere with the kids' needs or care. My friend is spontaneous, often going out of town on a whim. She also sleeps until 11am on weekends. I was up with the kids at the crack of dawn with the kids in those days.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:OP, yiu sound like one of those parents who treats parenting with all the reverence of a born again secret cult member, that no one can possibly understand what an amazing, joyous, amazing, position it it is.
You took a compliment about how difficult parenting appears and turned it into a criticism.
Maybe I’m a different kind of parent, and I love my child like the sun and moon, and I wouldn’t change it for the world, but parenting is difficult some times. A lot of times. Yes, diapers are the standard of care for a period, but changing them is still gross. Scrubbing toilets is not my hobby, and I have to scrub them more with kids than I do with just adults around. There are mysterious sticky fingerprints in places I can’t fathom sticky fingerprints being. I haven’t had a full nights sleep in years.
Acting like your friend can’t appreciate to any degree how hard parenting is because she doesn’t have kids is disingenuous. No, you never get the full idea, but she obviously get it enough that she is trying to commiserate with you in the only way she knows how - by indicating how hard she sees you working. You’re the one choosing to be offended, and really, I think you just judge her for being child free because your new religion is children.
+1 You’re definitely in the wrong on this one op, maybe you should only have friends with children since you’re so quick to judge those without children.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:You love and accept her just the way she is and go about your day, she is free to express her disgust with tasks that come with child rearing
+1 If OP wants to be the free speech police she should get a job with Biden’s ministry of truth.
Anonymous wrote:Let me preface this by saying I love this friend, and I don't want to ruin our friendship because I am very lonely. But she's continually making comments like "I am so glad I don't have kids" and "It must be so gross cleaning up a boy's toilet, I'm so glad I don't have to do that." I never even mentioned cleaning toilets! I never even complain about child-rearing, period. How do I respond to comments like these?