Current Events > Record numbers of U.S. adults are pursuing child-free lives

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https://money.good.is/features/the-child-free-revolution-millennials

In May, Atlantic staff writer Olga Khazan published a piece on why women decide to not have children. It relied on a mix of reader responses and academic studies, creating a kind of mosaic of childless or child-free, as some adults without children prefer to be called women. In her article, Khazan cites a 2014 study from Wayne State University that found that when women discussed the reasons for choosing to be childfree, they overwhelmingly focused on the benefits of their freedom and autonomy. Such freedom entailed being able to travel, pursue their careers, further their education, and retain a get up and go lifestyle.

The portrayals, by now, are well worn. Theyre immature, selfish, and narcissistic. Men raised on Adam Sandler vehicles and Judd Apatow comedies suffer from an arrested development coddled by their own cultural touchstones. Or perhaps the sacrifice is simply too great just barely grasping the reins of financial and emotional independence in their mid- to late-20s, millennials must be unable or unwilling to shoulder the more formidable costs of raising a child. When the conversation turns to older, 30-something millennials, its often driven by entrenched caricatures of ruthless careerists, heterosexual couples on lavish vacations, and overgrown teenagers living large on piles of disposable income.

Why do you hate children?
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Yet I still see single moms everywhere.
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1. It takes a lot to raise a child
2. These days many people are in school longer and working harder to establish a career...by the time they achieve that they don't want to be locked into having a kid or family..they want to relax for a bit and enjoy their life/enjoy what they worked so hard for before thinking about kids. (not to say having a family isn't enjoyable. you know what i mean)
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fan357 posted...

Yet I still see single moms everywhere.

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Good
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It really isn't for everyone. If someone realizes that they don't want children, they shouldn't. However it would be much appreciated if they did more to prevent pregnancies. I'm tired of seeing lazy parents who send their toddlers outside by themselves looking like homeless children.
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FightingGames posted...

The portrayals, by now, are well worn. Theyre immature, selfish, and narcissistic. Men raised on Adam Sandler vehicles and Judd Apatow comedies suffer from an arrested development coddled by their own cultural touchstones. Or perhaps the sacrifice is simply too great just barely grasping the reins of financial and emotional independence in their mid- to late-20s, millennials must be unable or unwilling to shoulder the more formidable costs of raising a child. When the conversation turns to older, 30-something millennials, its often driven by entrenched caricatures of ruthless careerists, heterosexual couples on lavish vacations, and overgrown teenagers living large on piles of disposable income.

Lol. That author sounds bitter as fuck
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bitter fucking writer

some people just arent interested in having children. thats fine.
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Man I like how for women it's freedom, for men they're big selfish shit babies.

I want kids but I understand it's gonna be a serious financial burden and it's going to turn people off from having kids. Just look at how much college costs for us, can you imagine how much it'll cost 20 years from now?
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This is a good thing lol
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I don't want children. I'm also barely affording life as it is. I don't see how my parents' generation were popping out children at my age and younger.

how the fuck does this moron think immature, narcissistic, selfish people are going to be at raising children
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Good.

I am one of them
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If anything, having a child is the narcissistic and selfish thing to do. There's enough people and your genes aren't special. You're only doing it for yourself.
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Yep. Birth rates are stagnating everywhere.

That's a good thing
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There is 7+ billion people on this world and Earth's carrying capacity is 9 billion IIRC. We don't need any more new humans, and if I truly want a kid I'll adopt one.
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i prefer dog's instead of kids, easier to take care of (dog's have simple needs for the most part).
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I love my nephews more than anything on this planet. Still don't want kids. No thank you.

I'm pursuing a child-free life (NOT by choice).
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good news, everyone!
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Reproduction rates SHOULD slow down. I have no idea who thought it'd be a good idea to promote maintaining the same reproduction rates for decades or centuries from some determined point. And the U.S. isn't like Japan - we have a ton of immigration and there are solid sections of our population that do reproduce like crazy.
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Kids suck, money is great. Not having kids is the best choice
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Liberalism is a self-defeating ideology because they don't have enough children, guaranteeing that they will be defeated.
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Most cultures drive the idea of having children home so much that people in them don't consider child-free living as an option. Not that it's considered a horrible thing - it's literally not even a possibility. Any hesitation or regret is irrelevant - you have kids, end of story.

So whenever I see someone like the bitter little shit in OP's article whine and moan about child-free adults, I have to wonder if perhaps there are some particularly sour grapes going on.
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Well now that adopting a child is going to cost even more to do, kids in shelters are going to be there all their lives.
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The unfortunate part is that the people who have the most kids are religious wackos and poor people, the two groups that should have the least of them.
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The_Juice_ posted...

The unfortunate part is that the people who have the most kids are religious wackos and poor people, the two groups that should have the least of them.

poor people are better than religious wackos though.
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The_Juice_ posted...

The unfortunate part is that the people who have the most kids are religious wackos and poor people, the two groups that should have the least of them.

As opposed to The_Juice_, who is an exceptional specimen of humanity.
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Pepys Monster posted...

I'm pursuing a child-free life (NOT by choice).

Good, you should never have children.
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Pepys Monster posted...

I'm pursuing a child-free life (NOT by choice).

Good, you should never have children. kingdrake2 posted...

The_Juice_ posted...

The unfortunate part is that the people who have the most kids are religious wackos and poor people, the two groups that should have the least of them.

poor people are better than religious wackos though.

There is strong overlap between the two.
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TL;DR

How dare these childless women not want to give up a sizeable amount of their time, energy, and money to rear a family for 20+ years? Our parents did it, so why can't these spoiled brats? Education? Freedom? Autonomy? Hogwash. Entitled, spoiled brats is all they are!

Man, that writer sounds like a dried up, bitter old person, who is just really angry that younger people are choosing to not have children, or are having them later in life.
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The_Juice_ posted...

The unfortunate part is that the people who have the most kids are religious wackos and poor people, the two groups that should have the least of them.

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Gee I wonder why. Wages are still the same, but standard of living/housing is so much more expensive now then it was 10-20 years ago.
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Alucard188 posted...

TL;DR

How dare these childless women not want to give up a sizeable amount of their time, energy, and money to rear a family for 20+ years? Our parents did it, so why can't these spoiled brats? Education? Freedom? Autonomy? Hogwash. Entitled, spoiled brats is all they are!

Man, that writer sounds like a dried up, bitter old person, who is just really angry that younger people are choosing to not have children, or are having them later in life.

I would be pretty pissed off if I spent my life raising my children, only for those children to decide that my biological lineage, and that of all of our ancestors since the dawn of humanity, will end, just because they were too goddamn self-absorbed to use some of their time and energy that they are saving for nothing to keep the family alive.
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Callixtus posted...

Alucard188 posted...

TL;DR

How dare these childless women not want to give up a sizeable amount of their time, energy, and money to rear a family for 20+ years? Our parents did it, so why can't these spoiled brats? Education? Freedom? Autonomy? Hogwash. Entitled, spoiled brats is all they are!

Man, that writer sounds like a dried up, bitter old person, who is just really angry that younger people are choosing to not have children, or are having them later in life.

I would be pretty pissed off if I spent my life raising my children, only for those children to decide that my biological lineage, and that of all of our ancestors since the dawn of humanity, will end, just because they were too goddamn self-absorbed to use some of their time and energy that they are saving for nothing to keep the family alive.

When you're dead, non of this shit matters.

Your lineage will end at some point.
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Callixtus posted...

I would be pretty pissed off if I spent my life raising my children, only for those children to decide that my biological lineage, and that of all of our ancestors since the dawn of humanity, will end, just because they were too goddamn self-absorbed to use some of their time and energy that they are saving for nothing to keep the family alive.

Ok, King Edward the IV of England. What have you done that's worth your lineage being carried on to the ends of time? As the other poster said, all lines end at some point, either by choice, circumstance, accident, or disability.
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Alucard188 posted...

Callixtus posted...

I would be pretty pissed off if I spent my life raising my children, only for those children to decide that my biological lineage, and that of all of our ancestors since the dawn of humanity, will end, just because they were too goddamn self-absorbed to use some of their time and energy that they are saving for nothing to keep the family alive.

Ok, King Edward the IV of England. What have you done that's worth your lineage being carried on to the ends of time? As the other poster said, all lines end at some point, either by choice, circumstance, accident, or disability.

If all lines end, then where the hell did you come from? Do you think new lines are popping up out of nowhere lol? Or do you think all of humanity is going to be wiped out? Maybe one day, but certainly not in any reasonably foreseeable future.

I don't need to justify my lineage being carried on to the end of time. It's a self-justifying good. It is the only thing close to immortality that human beings achieved, and the only cognizable legacy that someone will have in the world. There have been great kings and empires in the past, and we cannot even remember their names. But the fact that their children still walk the earth is the only legacy that they left behind.
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Their children are dead, bub. Their genetic ancestry lives on. Direct descendants are nice, but shit happens. How many family trees have been cut down since homo sapiens started walking?
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In a world of overpopulation, this isn't a bad thing.
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Callixtus posted...

Alucard188 posted...

TL;DR

How dare these childless women not want to give up a sizeable amount of their time, energy, and money to rear a family for 20+ years? Our parents did it, so why can't these spoiled brats? Education? Freedom? Autonomy? Hogwash. Entitled, spoiled brats is all they are!

Man, that writer sounds like a dried up, bitter old person, who is just really angry that younger people are choosing to not have children, or are having them later in life.

I would be pretty pissed off if I spent my life raising my children, only for those children to decide that my biological lineage, and that of all of our ancestors since the dawn of humanity, will end, just because they were too goddamn self-absorbed to use some of their time and energy that they are saving for nothing to keep the family alive.

If it makes you feel any better, the current generation has a realistic shot at seeing the cure for aging, thus extending the lineage without having kids.
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Alucard188 posted...

Their children are dead, bub. Their genetic ancestry lives on. Direct descendants are nice, but shit happens. How many family trees have been cut down since homo sapiens started walking?

What does that have to do with anything?

By the same cynical logic, since nearly every country that has existed in the human history has fallen or been conquered, why try to build a stable society? It's destined to end anyway. Indeed, a far higher percentage of polities have probably been destroyed than genetic lines, if I had to render a guess. You can reword the same fallacy in a million different ways. It's just another symptom of modern nihilism.
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Krojen posted...

Callixtus posted...

Alucard188 posted...

TL;DR

How dare these childless women not want to give up a sizeable amount of their time, energy, and money to rear a family for 20+ years? Our parents did it, so why can't these spoiled brats? Education? Freedom? Autonomy? Hogwash. Entitled, spoiled brats is all they are!

Man, that writer sounds like a dried up, bitter old person, who is just really angry that younger people are choosing to not have children, or are having them later in life.

I would be pretty pissed off if I spent my life raising my children, only for those children to decide that my biological lineage, and that of all of our ancestors since the dawn of humanity, will end, just because they were too goddamn self-absorbed to use some of their time and energy that they are saving for nothing to keep the family alive.

If it makes you feel any better, the current generation has a realistic shot at seeing the cure for aging, thus extending the lineage without having kids.

I don't think longer lifespans is a great thing. But if they manage to keep me looking and feeling like 50 something in my 80's, sign me up.
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Is the child free movement really that big?
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Those women might not want to wait too long. Once they get into their mid - late thirties, it's going to get harder and harder to get pregnant.
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Callixtus posted...

I don't need to justify my lineage being carried on to the end of time. It's a self-justifying good. It is the only thing close to immortality that human beings achieved, and the only cognizable legacy that someone will have in the world. There have been great kings and empires in the past, and we cannot even remember their names. But the fact that their children still walk the earth is the only legacy that they left behind.

so?
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Let's have a child. While we're at it let's just throw away all our time and money.

Lol jk but for real I can't see it being worth it these days until you've reached a certain stability in multiple aspects of your life.
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chrono625 posted...

I don't think longer lifespans is a great thing. But if they manage to keep me looking and feeling like 50 something in my 80's, sign me up.

You'd look and feel as young (fully developed tho) as you'd like indefinitely. Longer lifespan is just a side effect you can choose not to have. We get too poor of a return on investment as things stand now. You spend half your life either preparing to be productive or being too old to be productive. Not to mention the time constraint forces us to not value long term goals as much as we could/should.
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You ever notice how a lot of people who obsess over parenthood would have absolutely awful lives with terrible jobs and no other meaning to their existence, if there weren't a child there to distract them from all that shit?

Really activates the neurons.
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Millennials posted...

Callixtus posted...

I don't need to justify my lineage being carried on to the end of time. It's a self-justifying good. It is the only thing close to immortality that human beings achieved, and the only cognizable legacy that someone will have in the world. There have been great kings and empires in the past, and we cannot even remember their names. But the fact that their children still walk the earth is the only legacy that they left behind.

so?

All I'm saying is that thousands of people, who came before you gave their lives, fighting through wars, disease, famine, and every catastrophe you can imagine to ensure that you would live to carry on the torch of your family as all of those did who came before you.

Yet, people today, forgetful of history, look around around at their modern comforts, unimaginable to the people just 50 years ago, summarily declare that life is too hard, and then opt out. It's disgraceful. But Millenials gonna Millenial.
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