SmokeAndMirrors
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First, let me say I'm part of a childless couple that may remain as such as my wife has no desire for children.
Second, no he's not saying that at all.
Believing someone is being selfish for not wanting to have kids doesn't mean they're other contributions are meaningless. One doesn't indicate the other. One's other actions could both be meaningful AND be selfish as it relates to the notion of continuing ones ancestery.
I'll admit, this is part of what I struggle with currently with my wife. Part of why I'd like kids is I want to see my families name continue (of my father and his 4 brothers, I'm one of only 3 male kids) and to feel as if I'm helping to impact something tangably and direclty positive into the "next generation". Having experience as an instructor I recognize there are other ways to impact a child's life besides being their parent....but I also recognize that there's nothing AS impactful as that experience.
At the same time, I enjoy my life and the freedom around it. I enjoy the ability to go home and lay around watching TV or playing video games if I feel like it. Or going out and playing basketball with friends for the night or even sitting up watching election coverage or researching politics. I like being able to go out to the bar on Saturday nights till 2:00 AM or staying in bed on a weekend day for hours with my wife without a care in the world or spending all day devouring a slate of football games. And, conflicting with my desire for kids I also have a desire to see my wife happy...and she has no desire for kids.
I get the notion of people suggesting that those who are childless are "selfish". I don't think it applies EVERY time, but I can see how it is with some. I admit that part of why I don't have any yet is because I am a bit selfish...that I don't want to give up what I'm doing right now. At the same time, I think it's a bit of a misnomer. Most people having kids WANT kids...which means it's not somehow "Unselfish" of them to have the kid, because that's what THEY want to be doing. They're still doing what they want, just like I am...it's just in a different manner.
Well, here's my question to that argument.
How is it not selfish to have children?
Did they ask to be here? Life isn't a bed of roses, even for the luckiest of us. The majority of us like or at least are ok with living, but there are millions and millions of people who wish they weren't, and everybody dies in the end, many of us before our time, and most of us in a state of suffering.
I am perfectly willing to admit I am childfree for self-focused reasons (I don't believe it's selfish, because who am I taking anything away from?). Why can't parents admit that?
And in reality, there are some childfree people who choose not to have kids for completely unselfish reasons -- environmental reasons, really bad genetics, etc. I know a childfree woman who did it for one of those reasons, and she says she actually went through a period of grieving her decision.
I can think of no such equivalent for biological parents.