I don’t have kids and have no problem with that. I dreamed big of what I could accomplish. Not my children. Me. Men had no problem dreaming, but women were supposed to not exist except as pathways for a new generation of girls to be childrearers and boys to be the ones who accomplished.
Garbage. That attitude is why Women’s Lib was necessary. Thank goodness society has moved past those attitudes and roles are now chosen rather than forced.
I did what I wanted to do and accomplished much of what I dreamed of doing. I’ll pass the torch to another generation that will not be of my genes but of my dreams.
I have friends who were so against children that they were sterilized. That was their choice. I respect it. I have friends who popped out kids like puppies. Some came out well. Some came out poorly. I respect those choices as well.
Yes, society absolutely needs reproducers. And those who do so should be respected. But not everyone needs to be a baby factory. And their choice deserves equal respect.
thumbs up!!!
Not to dismiss your point of view, because I’m not.
My mom was a stay at home mom, but we had a family business, so she helped with that. She volunteered at church, school, and in the community.
However, when I was coming of age, I totally respected and looked up to my best friend’s mom. She was a working mom. She completed her PH.D. in nuclear physics, when we were in 6th or 7th grade. She taught math at the junior college level. She had 7 children. I thought she had it all, and maybe she did.
I was trying hard to follow in her footsteps as far as a career went, but I was more into the biological sciences than physics. After getting married, we discovered I was unexpectedly pregnant within just a few months. We weren’t planning it that way, but God has different ideas.
I thought I would return to work to pursue my career goals within a few months, but life changed again. Long story short, I never went back to my field of interest. Taking care of one, then two, and then three children seemed to take a lot of my time and attention. So I started doing what my own mom did. I volunteered at the church, the kids’ school, and in the community. I supported my husband in his career.
I don’t regret my choice. It was the right one for me and my family. I was often, VERY often, belittled for not pursuing my career, and was treated like a third class citizen by other women. I still am talked down to by many of them. Too bad. I know my worth, and it’s not dependent on what others think of me.
I know getting married and having children isn’t the right thing for everyone, but it was the right thing for me. That women’s lib thing was just a stepping stone in my development, and one that didn’t fit me for very long.