Posted on 12/27/2013 9:55:20 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
The day that her four older siblings finally left home was the day Amy Wexler realized she didn’t want to be a mother.
She’d spent much of her childhood fighting with them over the bathroom, bedrooms, time, and money. When they left home, Ms. Wexler, who was still a teen at the time, enjoyed the luxuries her parents couldn’t always afford with a full house.
“I saw how it was with all of us and that had a big effect on me,” said Ms. Wexler of Toledo. “I just never thought it was my cup of tea. Just like I couldn’t do a surgical job, it’s just not a good fit.”
The U.S. birth rate dipped to an all-time low last year as more women like Ms. Wexler decided against motherhood. In 2012, there were 63 births per 1,000 women of childbearing age, compared to 69 births in 2007 and 118 in 1960, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It marked the fifth year in a row for the birth rate decline and the lowest rate on record since the government started tracking fertility rates in 1909.
(Excerpt) Read more at toledoblade.com ...
You’re right. Not finding a anybody to marry was my main problem, and I know I’m bitter, though I know it’s a negative emotion, andI try hard not to be.
I see the attraction of not having kids — more money, more leisure time, fewer responsibilities.
I have a friend who has been married and divorced three times, with no kids. He has all the man toys you could want. Expensive home, car, motorcycle, arcade games, entertainment room with 80” LCD tv, etc.
Anyhow, none of that stacks up to the love of my children and the pride I feel having raised them. Life is a trade off. I chose the traditional family man way of life and I feel better off for it.
I don’t believe we are hearing the full story here from Miss Wexler. There are large families where older siblings get along well with younger siblings and are nurturing and protective of them, and all siblings reach adulthood without alienation and bitter feelings.
Let’s face it, raising kids is hard work and it can be lonely for stay at home moms who don’t have family nearby. When people started moving all over the place for jobs, that cut the ties between young mothers and their female relatives. Women who live near family have more children. Women who find themeselves basically on their own are worn out.
I also saw on E! (Something I don’t normally read) today that “millionaire matchmaker” Patti Stanger also publicly expressed regret over never having children. And she had negative things to say about an abortion experience in her 20s.
As I think about it, most of the childless people I know who are perfectly happy about it are men. Of course, most of my friends are men. I also have some friends who are concerned about overpopulation.
hell, the economy’s so bad adult children are moving back in with older parents. not quite the time to sprout a child.
I applaud Wexler. The fewer kids that libs have, the better.
Having family nearby certainly makes raising children easier. However, as a military spouse, my wife raised our kids and worked full time without any family support (none were near the bases where we were stationed). After 18 or 20 years of this, we are all worn down. Point is: we keep on, keeping on. Now that our kids are grown, we will probably live apart, but we had some good times, had some bad times, and did our jobs as parents.
Sorry to hear you will live apart. Military life is rough on families. I saw what happened to many families when my dad was in the USAF.
All part of the plan. Convince Americans not to have children. Keep the borders open to immigrants who will vote Democrat.
How can the U.S. birth rate be dropping with all of the Hispanics and even Asians coming over just to have babies in America, after all those babies are American aren’t they? /S
Has it ever occurred to you that some people can have had a happy childhood, be married to a nice spouse and still not want to have children? What "fact of nature" are you citing? Please elaborate, because I think your argument is being pulled out of thin air.
My wife and I had great childhoods, never wanted children and are not bitter in the least. Our lives are not centered around the biological function of procreation. If yours is, that's great for you. To assign a dysfunctional persona to those who don't procreate is ignorance at best.
Neither of us is bitter. Indeed, we often feel sorry for our friends who have children that turn out to be dysfunctional idiots, who then breed like rabbits and burden their parents with their (usually) illegitimate offspring.
Have kids if you want, but denigrating those who don't is based on fallacy, not fact.
Lets get real the welfare and illegal class are spitting out kids left and right while the educated and/or productive class are not having as many kids if any due to the burden of being taxed to death and the cost of living etc.
Your government at work; promote the criminal lazy class by financing it, and kill off the law abiding productive class by financially punishing it.
I think the previous poster had it right - most women without children had horrible childhoods and were scarred either mentally or physically or both and can hardly take care of themselves. Sure, a few might just be plain immature.
Thanks for the kind words. We are still friends, so that is something.
Sounds like the movie “Ideocracy” to me.
True. My dad was born in 1930, the first year of the Great Depression. His next sibling wasn't born until 1938, when my grandparents were finally stabilized enough to have another child.
On the other hand, when I was born in the 1950s, the U.S. economy was roaring, and Americans were in the midst of creating the baby boom. I've got six brothers and sisters.
The me now generation is what its all about—a strong case of selishness—why share your life with a punishment baby? Why limit your good times? But such people will wake up and see they have made poor choices in life.
Seriously, why would any conscientious potential parent want to have children in this dying country? My hat’s off for those who do, but those who don’t won’t hear any derision from me.
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