this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2026
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[–] Skyline969@piefed.ca 60 points 1 week ago (23 children)

My fiancée and I just flatly say we can’t have kids and that shuts most people up.

Never mind the reason why we can’t have kids is because we don’t like them.

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 13 points 1 week ago

While we also choose a child-free existence, it wasn't until some close friends had kids that were awesome that I realized I don't dislike kids. I dislike shitty parents.

That said, I can go meet up with people whenever I feel like it. I also have lots more disposable income. It's pretty great if it's what you want anyway.

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[–] victorz@lemmy.world 34 points 1 week ago (3 children)

She's right in that they are a lot of work, but they're worth it if you want children in the first place.

It's all about what you think the work is worth, I guess. Anything in life that you want, and you need to work for, you do the work if you want it badly enough. Pretty simple.

[–] alsimoneau@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 week ago (1 children)

But they can't choose to be born. Having children is intrinsically a non-consensual act.

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

That's not really relevant to the point I'm making but, yeah, it's not a consensual act to have offspring. Nothing that's ever been born has chosen to be born. But countless things have been happy they were.

In the words of Stephen Colbert, "It's a gift to exist."

Obviously quite dependent on circumstances...

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[–] Gonzako@lemmy.world 27 points 1 week ago

I personally want to work for a world where the choice of having an offspring doesn't ruin you financially

[–] Waterpumpee@lemmus.org 24 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I see that among my wifes friends and i think its the genuine wish to be at a similar stage in life. To do playdates and shit together.

[–] Nastybutler@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] Waterpumpee@lemmus.org 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Shared suffering is halved suffrring we say haha

[–] girlnamedzero@piefed.zeromedia.vip 21 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I don’t think I’ll ever have kids precisely because of how much work and responsibility they are. But if I ever have a kid, it would not be mine; this world is too fucked up to bring a new person into, I would instead adopt one of the many kids who need a parent

[–] boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I heard from a social worker that adoption is kinda the easy way. Foster parenting is harder, as you get more difficult cases. In any way, children need good households to grow up in

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 3 points 1 week ago (3 children)

i think because for adoption, it seen like getting a new puppy/kitten you can mold to your needs, and its mostly toddlers and babies, older children are less likely to get adopted. with a older child, they already have baggage with them, much harder to raise.

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[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 20 points 1 week ago

If they don't know anyone who chose differently, then their choice just cannot have been a mistake

[–] mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 15 points 1 week ago (1 children)

what a shit take by the coworkers

imagine thinking somebody accurately assessing a situation and not wanting to be a shitty parent is disappointing

I've got a lot less respect for shitty parents and people who don't think things through

[–] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

I've got a lot less respect for shitty parents and people who don't think things through

That's because most people are conformists.

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 14 points 1 week ago

Better to not have kids if you don't love them.

[–] speaksintv@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Let me state first that I LOVE my kids and enjoy every second with them.

That being said, if you realized you don't like having kids after the fact then misery loves company and kids are A LOT of work and expense.

[–] DMck@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

Please, if you realized you don’t like having kids after the fact, do NOT have more after the first! Why so many go on to have more than the one!

[–] Afaithfulnihilist@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

She would probably have to get a second job to support them which means she would never see them and she would be working all the time and miserable.

Having a kid costs so much money it's hard to explain even to my parents one of whom was a grant writer and nonprofit organizer for children's healthcare.

If you don't have at least $50,000 in the bank that you could spend without suffering you're not ready for what the hospital is going to do to you. We have totally fucked this whole country up.

But we need new people here. We don't necessarily need Americans to make them. Plenty of people see what we do here and come here anyway. They are willing and ready to make the kind of sacrifices necessary have another generation of their family, and we generally as a society are benefiting from their ambitions to do that.

I don't understand how so many people can be so pro-birth and anti-human at the same time, but I don't begrudge people who run the numbers and say the math doesn't math and so abstain from having children.

[–] Knoxvomica@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 week ago

I need you Americans to understand this clearly, my partner and I have had two kids in a hospital and we paid exactly zero dollars. I mean, philosophically we pay taxes so technically we paid for it, but like, Jesus you guys have it mixed up.

[–] Z745812939054@lemmy.zip 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

i think that if someone is legit mad because you don't have kids, then it's not that you don't have kids, it's that your extra time and money aren't thrown out the window, and their "it's SoOoOoOo worth it, though!!!" is replied to with "of course it is! drinks after work? no? maybe over the weekend? no? just let us know, i guess..."

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[–] blockheadjt@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 week ago

It wasn't a loss of respect they sensed, it was envy.

[–] Malyca@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 week ago (5 children)

I think it's a little crazy to bring children into the world as it stands today. I feel really guilty for having my kids, I should have foreseen this.

Even if the world was a much better place, if you don't want kids you shouldn't be a parent. But that's what they want, they want bad parents so they csn act like they're better.

[–] jballs@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I feel really guilty for having my kids, I should have foreseen this.

In a world full of dragons, raise dragon slayers.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 3 points 1 week ago

thats why they have the old marines recruiment commercial where you slay a dragon.

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[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 9 points 1 week ago

I have more respect for that lady than I have for all the people who have kids anyway and then just neglect them.

[–] AdolfSchmitler@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It's to convince themselves they made the "right" choice by having kids. Because deep down I'm sure there's a part of them that wished they hadn't. And when they see another person who actually chose to not have kids, it only reminds them of a life they didn't get, which upsets them.

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[–] Alexfire@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Most people who have children don't know how to do it right and too many are children themselves emotionally/mentally, so they model all the bad behaviors they punish the children for, it's crazy! They punish for natural emotional responses to life events and don't care to understand what's going on, just blame as bad and punish. Enmeshment and other unhealthy, dysfunctional ways they think are normal and good. They do the same unhealthy ways they never questioned and stay in low-level thinking, easier, fit in with others, tradition, "we turned out good enough" they delude themselves.

[–] Varesti@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 week ago

Misery loves company.

[–] SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org 5 points 1 week ago

I just say the climate is fucked, so having kids is immoral. I can be confrontational as well.

[–] warbond@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

Having children puts me in the minority where I work. I'd say maybe 30% have children, but it's never really discussed. I guess I've seen it elsewhere, but I assume this is a social pressure mostly aimed at women.

[–] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

From my experience is that most people are conformists. That's why.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 week ago

We need your kids for meat and organs.

[–] tacosanonymous@mander.xyz 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I’ve never met a parent irl that didn’t respect my choice.

They always agree with my reasoning and they either say that they really wanted them anyway or that it just happened and they have to deal with it.

Maybe when I was in my twenties there were some weirdos that would say shit like, “they’d be so beautiful”.

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