Ask Lemmy

No, no, and no.

I was born into a dying world. Before I was old enough to have a say, my elders sold our planet to corporations. Now, fascism is rising across the globe, global temperatures are reaching critical levels, and we're circling the drain of late-stage capitalism. To introduce new life to this world would be a mistake. I would never damn anyone else to my fate.

I've had to break off het relationships over not wanting to children, but I've never regretted it. If anything, each new horror that happens reinforces my vow.

At first I thought I could "take it or leave it" with kids. Then I married someone who was a firm "No," but strung me along when I asked if we could adopt. Divorced now, and when I think about the idea of finding a woman to raise a family with... I'm inundated with fear and anxiety. This world is so fucked that I cry in my dreams at the thought of it. What will the world look like in my hypothetical child's lifetime?

The supposed last bastion of freedom and democracy has fully descended into fascist oligarchy. We were supposed to stop climate change before we hit 1.5 degrees of warming, we hit that last year. Now they're talking about what's going to happen when we hit 3 degrees of warming. So every natural disaster is going to be far worse, and far more frequent. The fire in LA is still burning. A fire swallowed up so much, the next one may take the entire city. Scientists have been dreading the eruption of a super volcano for a while now, saying that it could cause a global ice age, gee I wonder if climate change is making that more or less likely?? (hint: it's more.) Meanwhile NATO and the combination of russia/china/north korea/iran are preparing for the last war this world may ever see.

Not to mention that having a kid is like pooping out a ticket for half a million in debt. I already think about killing myself so often, could I really bear the thought of shackling myself to this soul sucking job for the rest of my life? Goodbye following my dreams, hello more debt.

So now I can't even bring myself to date, because despite getting divorced over it (not really, but it was a part of it), I still can't truly answer the question "Do I want kids?" Approaching 40 and time is running out. Gotta make up my mind, but in the meantime everything is getting worse.

I heard once that single life is like being the center of your life's portrait, and once you have kids, you instead become the frame. But I already feel like I've lived my whole life within the frame, and want to try being the center of my own portrait for once.

58 and without kids, no regrets so far

Have kids. The only regret is the world we brought them into. Wouldn’t trade them for anything. But we have many fears about their future. We still thought the world could be saved with recycling and buying efficient cars. Dubya was an anomaly. Things would return to their boring 1990’s progression. Not anymore.

Climate change is essentially unstoppable at this point, the only choices are how bad it will be. Politics globally seem to be shifting to right wing populism, nationalism, fascism. Good luck if your kids aren’t straight, white males. Economically the system stopped making sense. Worthless companies worth billions. Billionaires with private space programs. A new gilded age with widening disparity. Companies literally paying homage to the new “king” hoping for some kind of investiture or favor.

E: point being the world is pointed in an objectively worse direction.

I have kids. I wouldn't trade them for the world. 90% of the time, they're fine. The other 10%, I'm so angry but I can't be angry for long because they didn't do anything I didn't do as a kid.

Hard to say if I regret anything. Too young and I would have struggled financially, nor was I mature enough. Too old and I would have struggled to keep up.

You're going to have a divide here. There's people who REALLY hate the idea of kids. Then you have the crazy-ass breeder religious folks who are so judgemental. Asking for validation from the internet about kids is silly imo. Everyone has a motive.

Rather than ask friends, family, strangers on the internet... Treat it like a lifestyle change. Read books about parenting. If that doesn't align with you, then you have your answer.

Yes, I have kids. No regrets. It definitely gave me a different perspective on life in ways that I could never had experienced in any other way.

No one is ever fully ready for it. It's not comparable to anything else, so it's basically impossible to reach the decision to have children in any logical way. It's a leap of faith. I thought of it as something that I had to do in order to experience as much of life as I can while I can. It's been well worth any amount ofmoney or time that I've spent on it. I'd do it again if I was ten years younger.

I'm a woman, and absolutely not. This world isn't going to be viable or have any positives for non-rich-as-fuck people, and I certainly can't give that to a baby. There isn't any more points to procreate - humans made sure of it.

No.

No.

And also, no.

Long before I was diagnosed as being autistic and having ADHD, I knew that I would be a shitty parent. I'm often wrapped up in my own world and busy doing my own thing, and that doesn't work very well for relationships, and considerably less well for raising a child.

I have cats, I have a spouse. That's enough.

No kids and will not have kids. I have nieces and nephews that I enjoy spending time with and they satisfy any desire I might have. I have an uncle and aunt that are 85 and don't look a day over 65. They never had kids and are some of the happiest and healthiest people I know.

I have one kid. Don't really want a second one. No fucking regrets he's a swell dude, he's smart as fuck and has a gentle heart that just warms my soul. Also thanks to modern schooling he's got some amazing psychological skills like identifying his and others' emotions, processing them before reacting, etc... Coming from a stupid family that's shit i learned to do in my 30s and he was already working on it at 3. That's stuff he won't need to power through with weed and alcohol in his 20s i guess.

Sure the world is considerably more shit now than it was when he was born, which is dumb because he's only 6. But hey the world was shit before and every time period brings its own brand of anxiety and uncertainty. With kids you learn to take things day by day and not dwell so much on what you don't control. You have to accept the universe on its own terms, that's the whole point of psychological and philosophical integration after all.

We wanted kids, tried to have kids, but things never seemed to work out. So I went to see my doctor and they ran some tests. First test we found I had no sperm, so they did more tests, turns out I barely have any testosterone at all, but absolutely tons of estrogen. More tests, this time a genetic one. Turns out I have kleinfelter syndrome, which if caught early enough there are things that can be done. But at my age that boat has long since sailed.

It's been an interesting couple of years. I started TRT injections at the beginning of the year. And my life has taken a complete 180, turns out you really need testosterone for alot of things. And your body reacts kinda funny without it.

Adoption seems our only choice, but she doesn't want a kid if it's not hers. So... Yea

no kids, do not want kids. I can hear the feral beast within my soul howling for mortal progeny to raise, but you can actually just set that to mute. its really easy

As you seem curious about the opinion of others I suggest reading research literature on the topic as it is probably better structured than a list of anecdotes from complete strangers. That being said in here at least you can dig deeper by asking questions back.

Anyway there is a field called the science of happiness that aggregates research in psychology, cognitive science, behavior science, economy, political economy, etc on what makes most people happy. Within this there are papers on relationships, family and raising kids. I warmly suggest reading on the topic. Last time I did read on it, which was a bit more than 5 years ago, one could roughly summarize that raising children brings for most people higher highs and lower lows. If your kid brings you a beautiful drawing from school, no matter how "ugly" it might look, you will be so proud it will brighten your day. On the other hand if they break their leg while cycling, you will feel even worst that if you broke your own leg. So... on average people feel about as happy with and without kids BUT the way they feel can be more intense.

I warmly recommend https://ggsc.berkeley.edu/ and https://www.drlauriesantos.com/happiness-lab-with-dr-laurie-santos-podcast to discover more on the topic. Specifically in your case https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/parenting_family

I do not have kids.
I do not want kids.
I do not regret it.

To be fair, I get the perspective makes sense from a biological/evolutionary perspective. But if I had to understand intuitively or from how I feel, I don't get why anyone would want kids.

No. No. No.

I do want kids. I'm getting up there in age though, and I've been single for a while. The man I thought I'd be having kids with turned out not to be the right one, and dating is hard now

I think I'll be very sad if I end up without any kids, but I'm not willing to have them with just anyone.

No kids, no regrets, at 34. Life is already stressful enough with instability around housing and long-term career prospects (what with AI affecting jobs and such). With kids in the picture, I feel like that anxiety would just be ten times worse.

🤔 i like the idea of kids, but i am worried that I'll accidentally pass down all my traumas to them by trying hard to avoid it.

Also, i have voiced this before many times and i always get told "that just means you'll be a great dad," or "you know what not to do so it'll be fiiiine."

Idk. I can be convinced, for sure, but right now i think it's not the best idea for me to have them.

I have a kid. My wife wanted one but I didn't, and I agreed because I didn't want to lose her.

I love my kid, but to call it a huge lifestyle change is a monumental understatement. I'm happy with my life, but it could have gone the other way, and that wouldn't have been fair to anyone. There are certainly a lot of things I miss from before, but I couldn't go back now.

Don't let anyone else convince you to have a kid, and don't let anyone, including yourself, convince your spouse. This really needs to be something you want for yourself, or there is a good chance you'll end up miserable and your child will grow up in a broken home.

If you can't make to your mind before your age make it too risky for your comfort, then just understand that you have made a decision, and you'll need to come to terms with that, should it come to pass.

don't. just don't.

I'm female. Hell. Fucking no. Pregnancy and childbirth sound awful and I have zero interest in babies, children, or taking care of something that might grow to hate me. Too much societal stereotypical expectation as the mom. I understand today parenting is a lot more fair and equal but I would still be giving up my body and time for feeding, among other things.

But I've genuinely had to ask myself if I was a male? Would I want kids... I think one of the biggest turn offs is literally the female pregnancy/birth part. If I didn't have to carry and give birth to a child? Maybe?

I understand adoption would still be a thing but I still think as a female I'd carry responsibility that I don't want.

I've never had a desire to be around kids or babies and the screaming and crying sets me off when I'm in the vicinity. Then the teenage mood swings? I can't fathom.

Overall I'm a hard no.

Have kids. I absolutely adore my kids and have no regrets, but also recognize that I'm in a relatively stable situation where having kids doesn't create other unmanageable challenges for me and my wife. We carefully considered our capacity to have and raise kids. They were not all comfortable conversations. I am glad to have waited to have kids until I was in a good and stable place, and also can no longer imagine what it would have been like to not have these absolutely wonderful little monsters both spoiling and making every moment more magnificent.

I got snipped in my 30s before having any kids. I have numerous physical and mental issues that I didn't really care to pass down. Before I was married, I did date a couple women in my past who did have kids, so I'm not opposed to that side of it. At this point, in my mid 40s, adopting seems fairly unlikely.

I don't worry about or miss anything specifically. We have plenty of nieces and nephews (and now some great- ones on my side since my younger stepsister and her son had kids quite young) that I can spoil.

I do somewhat worry about setting up proper care for us as we get older, particularly my wife who will almost certainly outlive me by a bigger margin, but having kids wouldn't guarantee that or anything anyway, particularly with the ratrace that is the current Japanese job market and culture.

Yep, 3. I like to explain things to people, now I get to be the smartest person in the room for a while. It’s great.

I’m nearing an age where it’s not going to be physically possible for me to have my own soon, and my overwhelming feeling is ‘good.’ I never wanted to get pregnant and was always told I’d change my mind. Well, if I do, it’s going to be when I’m at an age where I’m far too old for it to matter anyway, lol.

Never liked kids, never liked the idea of having kids. I have a miniscule noise tolerance, and being around them for just a few hours completely exhausts my social batteries.

After meeting my nieces I need a full day to recover, so I wouldn't expose myself to the same thing at home on a near constant basis, plus I love the freedom to be as spontaneous as I want to be.

Got sterilized in my 20s, now I'm in my 40s. Zero regrets, best decision of my life.

simplest answer ever.

No. No. And no.

I do not have kids. I fiercely disprove of the idea of havnig kids without having a person to have those kids with.

I finally met somebody I would probably have them with.

But shes already past menopause, so it's not going to happen.

And that's cool, we're DINKY-ing it out.

I love my kids so much that it's changed my whole life. They have given value to my life that didn't exist before, they made me grow and it's an incredible experience to watch them grow. They made me happy, worried, scared, bored, proud and angry like nothing else ever did.
Yeah I sometimes envy my brother, who has all the money and time in the world to do whatever he wants. But I secretly pity him as well, because he lives like a grown-up, self-centerd child without true responsibilities, and all his toys and holidays feel meaningless to me.
I couldn't recommend this to anyone but it is a true magic happens outside the comfort zone-experience that will never go away.

I sort of thought that I didn't want kids even though I was married and finances would not be a problem. And then I had a kid, and it is the greatest thing that ever happened to me in my entire life.

Fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffuuck no.

Never mind my genetic heart defect I don't want to risk passing down, my niece and nephew are a handful enough as it is when I watch them for a weekend.

I always thought I'd make a better uncle than a father. Time has proven me right.

I've got a lot of reasons: climate, personal finance, america (country where I live) seems a little unwell, mental health, lack of commitment (I think one should be pretty sure and I'm not).

Came close once with a relationship where my partner changed their mind and wanted kids and tried to convince me for a year. We parted ways over it.

Got a vasectomy last year. If I want them later on I'll adopt or foster.

I have 2 kids. One bit and one girl. Wish I had a third, but I got snipped after 2.

It's such a huge and personal decision. You shouldn't really make a decision based on how other people describe their experience. I saw this on reddit ages ago and this is is probably the single best summary of the experience I've seen.

I can describe my experience, but you need to understand people's biases. My bias is that I always liked kids. I enjoyed playing with nephews and nieces. I now work with children and have 2 of my own kids. The decision for children doesn't come about in a vacuum. I had a wife who wanted kids too. I had a stable job and felt ready. Even then I had no idea what I was in for. Kids put major demands on your time, money, energy, patience and marriage. I have one child which some might call "a difficult child" and one who is very demanding (as expected for a "normal" child). This is definitely life on hard-mode. Children really force you to face your own issues and get over yourself. It has been great for me. I wouldn't change a thing about my "difficult" children. Giving them a good life and catering to their needs is an undescribable satisfaction and fulfilment in itself. I'm learning more than I'm teaching them. I wish work didn't take so much of my time and energy so I had more for them. I asked my wife if she wanted to work full-time, because I would happily stay at home or work part-time and spend more time with the kids. I can't get enough of my kids and the time you get at each stage of their life flies by in an instant.

That's starkly in contrast that with large proportions of Lemmy (and Reddit) which have quite vocal child-free populations with a very individualist ideology. Everyone's circumstances and biases are different.

Edit: People also tend to be more open about defending their current position rather than expressing regret (i.e. had children and hated it, or didn't have children and regretted it); both of these populations exist and tend to be quieter because of social stigma.