To have children or not to have children..that is

I am 32. I decided when I was 17 that I was not going to have children. The question I always get is why? Are you physically unable? Is he? No and no.
I just do not want children. Don't you think some one on this crowded planet should refrain? I have decided I am doing my part to support mother nature. If you think about it, I have done her a great service.
Think of the garbage one child produces....diapers especially, then you have the trees spent to build the extra schools and paper needed for all those learning children, not to mention the added strain on the sewage systems. The cows killed to feed it all those delicious Mc. D burgers. Vegetables? do people feed their kids those things or do they consider french fries to cover that? Now, we also get one less car, or cars since many people have multiple vehicles, an extra house, an extra job. Perhaps you'll make that next flight you forgot to book in advance because of the decision I made when I was 17.
Now on average, in the US, families have 3 children. So triple all that and then if your children have three grandchildren and your great grandchildren have three children.... if your good at math like I am not, you should be able to get the idea.
Personally I feel good about my decision. Plus it keeps the family away and what could be better than that?

I hate kids, my little brother is 7 years younger then me. My childhood with him has convinced me I will never evereverever get kids.

Wow. I love kids to death and I want to have as many as my body and my financial situation will allow.
I think that the best thing that anyone can do for society is to bring more smart, talented, ambitious, loving, unique people into the world. Clearly the idiots have no problem reproducing images of themselves. (Bush)

Imagine for a minute that your parents had that outlook. That everyone had that outlook. There would have been no artists, writers, doctors, and so on and so on. There would have been no me and ther would have been no you. If you are concerned about mother nature and perserving it, it is going to take alot more that saving her from a few dirty diapers.
Who knows your child might have come up with a plan to heal the ozone layer.

On the other hand, it will be difficult for the human race to pollute at all if there's no kids around to do so in 20 years time. Hehe..

My parents had that outlook after child number 2. I am a vasectomy failure......... hmmmmm Bad Navy Dr.s or mother nature? They did almost cut my big toe off when they cut the name tag off my foot. Still have the scar.

Theres not a good chance I can have kids but I will adopt when I am fin. stable. There are so many kids that need home. Why not take care of the kids who are aleady here and have no one?

That is a wonderful idea Brann. There are a lot of unwanted children that need homes.

Unfortunately the size of our (human) population is taking its toll on this planet's resources. It doesn't help that we abuse much of these resources one way or another, either.

For myself, I am undecided on this. I understand the logic of adopting children who are in need of caregivers, and mentally I believe this option to be the practical choice given our current environment, but a part of me also wants my own children. I'm not sure why that is. Ingrained cultural tradition? The biological instinct to reproduce? Not sure.

I decided when I was quite young I didn't want children either, but long about 30 my heart opened up and I decided to have one. He's 16 now and the joy of the whole family... he's turned out so wonderful, I can't imagine having not had him. I did only have the one and had to put up with the usual 'when ya gonna have another?' question until I thought I'd scream. He used to ask me why he didn't have a brother or sister, so that was hard... but when he got older, he admitted he was really happy to be an only child.

I'm adopted and thank God for generous people who take on other people's babies. My parents never showed me or my adopted brother anything but love and devotion. My son is the only person I know who actually looks like me. I guess I had to have my shot at 'immortality' and carrying on my genes. I now have 2 step sons to add to my 'kids'.

I do have a huge issue with overpopulation. It's almost incomprehensible how many human beings will be on this planet in another 100 years... or 1000 years (if we don't blow ourselves up or get hit by an asteroid or something) For everyone who only has one or two or even no kids, there's someone else churning out 7 or a dozen+. I blame religion, ignorance, and possibly feeding the 'war machine' as reasons for breeding excessively. Oh no... I'm about to climb on my soapbox. 'nuff said

It's assumed that everyone will get married and have kids. One time, my classmates and I had to talk about our marriage plans (I have no idea why). When it was my turn to speak, I said that I didn't want to marry and everyone gasped and looked in shock. 'You don't want to get married?' one girl said. It almost sounds like, 'You don't want to live?'

And then you have people who want to be parents, but once they have kids, they have regrets. Why? Because they can't devote as much time to themselves anymore. Some parents even forget who they once were after they have kids.

Thanks for the understanding, Awakening.

I've never been sure about marriage or kids. Neither appealed to me. When I tell people this, I get surprised looks. I felt pressured at one time (by people whose opinions I really respected) to marry and have kids in the futureand wasn't respected for my feelings. It hurt. The world needs more people like you, Awakening.

on the bright side of overpopulation, we will destroy ourselves long before we do any lasting, permenant damage to the planet. so have youre kids, the human race is only here for a minute, and we will not leave a scar

Well if you're 19 or 20, still in school trying to figure out what the hell you're going to do in life, children seem to be the last thing on your mind. And some people don't make good parents, if they don't have a desire for children then it'd be ludricous to force them to, or expect that of them.

But you never know how you're going to be in five years, six years, when you've accomplished everything you wanted personally, and want to extend that to another. With a family, you can experience another element of life that was unknown to you from the perspectives of spouse and parent, before. I think kiddos are alright, I just wouldn't have em now because I'm not stable yet or done with what I aspire to do.

"I can't be a wife. I'm not that sort of person." Sarah Brightman (and me)

I was molested as a child and have never had a boyfriend. Never wanted one, so kids were not a consideration. Sometimes I feel like I should have one and I should have kids but that would only be for appearences, to feel normal, and I wouldn't be doing the right thing by them not being true to myself.

I do get sick of other women looking down on those who don't want children. Nature does her best to make sure not everyone has children anyway, so it's not meant to be that way.

Besides, why would anyone who cares about children wish them on people who don't want them? Makes no sense to me.
I've seen first hand what happens to kids born to people who don't want them or have them for the wrong reasons and it makes me furious and unleasted damaged kids on the world.
Having kids isn't always a good thing.
It's only good if you raise them to be good people, show them love and respect. It's not inherantly good. Sometimes it's controlling, sometimes it's vain. Sometimes it's a status symbol. Anyone who thinks it's always about love is deluding themselves.

Often it's wonderful but sometimes it's very, very tragic.

As for "what if my parent thought like that"... well what would I care? I would know.
What if Hilter's mother didn't have kids?
That's a better question.

personally i think it likely that i will have kids at some point or another, as for overpopulation, it wouldnt exist if everyone only had two kids who would basically replace them when they died, add on to that the fact that some die in accidents and wars etc before reproducing. i think the current surge in population should slow down, now that people have realised that modern medicine means that they dont need 5-7 kids in case some die off, as it is less likely to happen.