Posted on 10/09/2009 7:16:47 AM PDT by GL of Sector 2814
Laura S. Scott loves her husband. And that, she says, is enough to sustain a marriage.
They don't need children. "Two Is Enough" is the name of her book explaining a couple's guide to living childless by choice.
"I think I knew very early I didn't want to be a mom," Scott tells me. "I never imagined myself a mom, even as a small child. I never played with dolls. I was 15 when I told my mom, and she suggested things might change with my hormones. Nothing changed."
Scott is 47. She's too young to conceive (excuse the pun) the impact the FDA-approved birth control pill had on young women in the 1960s.
A friend of mine remembers. "Because of the pill, I could make a definite choice not to have children," says Mary, 70. "I have never regretted it. I was not designed to change diapers."
Her husband agreed with the decision but her mother couldn't accept it. She spread the word her daughter's husband was sterile.
Scott says, "People still have a hard time understanding our motives. They assume I may not be a real woman? Maybe I'm not in touch with my maternal self?"
My friend remembers hearing the same comments. She also remembers hearing how "you'll regret your choice when you are old."
Scott says people ask her what she will do when she's old. "Well, I'll create a social network with people to come to my aid," she says. "Is that really a reason to have a child? To breed a caregiver?"
And then there is the accusation she is "selfish."
"That is most annoying. Most unfair," Scott said.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
Well, you are entitled to your opinion.
Just don’t mistake it for mine.
There's nothing wrong with having kids, or not having them. It's an intensely personal choice, much like religion or politics.
However, when someone not only feels the need to announce loudly to the world "HEY! I'm not going have any kids!"....but also follows it up with a book justifying their decision ...to me, that's the height of narcissism.
Freeriders Rock.
I don’t think it’s as much about announcing...as people probably continuously bothering them about it. I have neighbors in their early 50’s who have been married for almost 20 years. They don’t go around pronouncing their choice to not have children, but other people are soo rude!!! When asked if they have children they simply say no...but there are people who actually have the gall to ask “why not?” It happens to my single friends as well.... the onslaught of “why aren’t you married?”
The presumption is there’s something wrong with them.
why so negative toward her? i don't get that... she doesn't seem selfish... she doesn't seem to despise children... they chose not to be parents... why the negativity?
no--ignore those comments... it's funny how many Freepers don't want the government telling them what is right for them, but seem to think they know what's right for everyone else...
Because some people apparently don’t have enough to do living their own “perfect” personal lives, and are just certain that they know better than you do how to live what to them is your “imperfect” life.
To be honest with you, I prefer the person who will come right out and ask impudent questions to those who speculate and spread erroneous gossip behind your back.
Would that it were only speculation, and flawed opinions, about the personal lives of childless couples!
That is exactly what happens! I’m 49 and hubby is 52 we are asked by people we barely know why we don’t have kids. Some even go so far as to pronounce how “sorry” our lives must be? What? I lost it once when some distant relative told us how empty her life would be without her kids, I just told her I thought that was really sad that her kids were all she had to fill it up with and that I thought that was an awful burden for her children to fill. She stomped off mad as h*ll but never ever considered how rude her remarks were to me?
My wife and I didn’t get married until we were 30 and 33...so we started pretty quick after that.
Some Freepers insinuated (before I got married) that at my age I should have already had 3 kids and been married. However, I shudder to think what married life would have been like with some of the women I dated before my wife...
The only problem there is that, despite the types such as the woman who wrote this article, many Dem-voting groups (immigrants etc.) breed like flies, that they STILL seem to outbreed conservatives overall.
Hoodie and I have a 7 mo old now...are we still Freeriders?
You can be auxilary members, maybe 50% Discount Riders. :)
Of course due to FReeper genes, you kid will clearly be smart, cute, well behaved and inherently superior.
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