I Love the Kids in My Life. And I’m Raising None of Them.

The New York Times ^ | Sept. 7, 2024, 5:01 a.m. ET | Glynnis MacNicol

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Recently, a book tour gave me the opportunity to travel around America. Budgets being what they are, I primarily chose cities where I had friends who would happily provide me with places to stay. These were homes, almost without exception, filled with children. I have no children of my own, and this felt like a serendipitous chance to catch up with many of the kids in my life.

In America, there is a persistent, pernicious belief that the only way to be invested in a child’s life is to be a parent — and, for women, to give birth to that child. (Ella and Cole Emhoff, among others, would like a word.) In a country that offers so little support to parents, this often feels like a not-so-covert argument for taking women back to a time when they lacked control over their bodies and their finances.

Recently, the Pew Research Center reported that 64 percent of women under 50 who don’t have children say they “just don’t want to.” This has contributed to another round of hand-wringing about birthrates and childless cat ladies. What the seemingly inexhaustible discussion around this topic leaves out is that many people who say they don’t want to birth or parent children do have children in their lives — other people’s. We rarely account for that, nor do we give full weight to the fulfillment these relationships provide.

Which is not entirely surprising. So often we hear about the annoyance of other people’s children — babies crying on planes, kids fussing at restaurants. Rarely do we talk about the pleasure of these little people, or how transformative it is to have children in your life whom you’re not raising.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

In a country that offers so little support to parents,...

Tax the Hell out of them, then pretend the only way parents could afford children is with government handouts.

Government can give you nothing it does not first take away.

[Gene Eric]

>> In America, there is a persistent, pernicious belief that the only way to be invested in a child’s life is to be a parent

It’s reality, not a belief.

Keep your children safe from the govt predators

[Angelino97]

In a country that offers so little support to parents,...

Plenty of support to mothers. None to fathers.

The father can lose all custody upon his wife's whim. She can divorce, take the house he worked for and keep him on the financial hook, then have her new boyfriend raise the father's kids.

In addition to support from the father, the mother gets all sorts of freebies from the government. Free daycare, schooling (three free meals a day for the kids), food stamps, and all sorts of welfare.

[Señor Presidente]

“In a country that offers so little support to parents...”

All the result of the godless and hedonistic ideologies of the Left.

“there is a persistent, pernicious belief that the only way to be invested in a child’s life is to be a parent.”

Yep, of course, that’s the real problem! Not the craven men using women as objects or the women deciding to kill their own child. How about we start there, then worry about the lack of extra parental influence??

[BenLurkin]

Parenting is pernicious?

Yikes!

[BenLurkin]

people who say they don’t want to birth or parent children do have children in their lives — other people’s.

That is just plain creepy.

[fella]

It’s sourced from the NY Slimes . . .

[blueplum]

other people’s children are delightful at times. But other people’s children will not be around, or concerned in the least, when you turn old and need someone to take care of you in your last years on earth. Other people’s children will be too busy with their own parents.

[stanne]

How do these people expect the government to have the revenue to support them in their old age

The liberals are in charge of the country. By election fraud. And they’re as dumb as rocks.

At some point you need a person willing to be hated to just get in and make it stop

[ichabod1]

childbearing bodies own the clumps of cells they produce. but it takes a village or several of them to satisfy a predator.

[Honorary Serb]

.....Ella and Cole Emhoff......

They are so weird (especially Ella), and are simply gushing over having a celebrity step-parent!

But kamala is in no way a mother—either to these young people or to the nation that she purports to lead. Phooey!

[Kozak]

One reason they support open borders.

[Varsity Flight]

Child support, one sided.

[Varsity Flight]

📌🗝️

[dfwgator]

I support Single Mothers, I help them to get their start.

(Apologies to Steve Martin)

[stanne]

That is so cute. I saw a kid wandering around with his mother today. I think she just works her ass off. Not sure what kind of govt support they have. The kid is getting big. Wondering what kind of one night stand a hole his father is, whom he never met. The kid is autistic. No real hope. Headed for a seriously lonely life

[DIRTYSECRET]

*She can divorce, take the house he worked for and keep him on the financial hook, then have her new boyfriend raise the father’s kids.*

Shower’s down the hall. Room 16’s got no view but the hot plate’s brand new.
-Robert Cray.

[DIRTYSECRET]

Women have the plumbing. Does that mean she has to? A successful cat lady I knew bought a house next door to her friend who had 4 kids-stay at home mom. Hononary auntie. Still died alone. She shouda had one of her own and let the friend raise the kid. She had the money. Offbeat? Yes but her physical and mental health would have been better.

[Presbyterian Reporter]

Glynnis MacNicol-—but how many cats do you have?

[Presbyterian Reporter]

Glynnis MacNicol-—but how many cats do you have?