What's with the no kids guilt trip?

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They just want to share the hell that children are with other people. Don't worry about it, you'll have plenty of time while working holidays for the breaders to think of a better line.

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This reminds me of that old Stephen King story, Quitters, Inc., about the guys who find an effective but ridiculously brutal and terrifying way to quit smoking. Somehow, despite the horror they go through, their clients find it within themselves to recommend the program to others.

Misery loves company.

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they need to validate their lives, by making sure what they're doing is the norm.

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What?

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Standard. Many people become nearly indecipherably furious at the harmless personal decisions others make which have no effect on them whatsoever. Defensive people take being different from them as an implied criticism, and the less secure they are about their decisions, the more any divergence from total agreement is taken as total attack. It's not really a conscious thing.

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yeah haha if anything i salute people who say they aren't having kids. thank you for not bringing another idiot into the world. not you OP, but in general.. just playin the odds

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this is actually why i don't want kids. i have almost no shot of raising that kid to be normal or happy.

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Agreed. Even worse is the idea that if i actually tried hard for 18 years and he/she turned out a huge douche anyway, that'd just crush me.

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I agree with the whole embedded chain of posts here.

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It's not super rare, I know at least four normal women (early-mid 20's) who say they don't want kids.

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A lot of women say this for a while. It seems to have little bearing on what happens when the clock starts ticking.

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Kids are noisy messy smelly and ask stupid questions. Why would you want more people like that in your life?

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Because with no job, I'm in serious trouble.

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For those that don't want kids, its a good thing that your parents wanted them.

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For whom?

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For those that don't want kids, its a good thing that your parents wanted them.

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i'm guessing your parents are regretting having you.

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I'm surprised that anyone would think that just because someone had kids, they wanted them.

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I'm continually amazed that so many "western" nations are reproducing below the replacement level, and how much of it seems to be because hedonism and contraception are strong enough to short circuit biology.

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As people have better access to education, they realize a lot more the upward mobility possible in life in the western world, and also how easily the expense and commitment of kids can hobble or even eliminate that possibility. A capitalistic system is great to be on the top in, but pretty bad to be on the bottom in, especially when you can look around you and see the potential you've missed. If everybody's a dirt farmer and you farm dirt too, it doesn't feel as bad or seem as stupid to come up short. And you won't take much grief over it from your peers. Being an also-ran in our system sucks a lot more. In the west, the birthrate is declining simply because people are being smart and realistic.

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renodoc,

You sound like every other parent I meet. Today is my daughter's 18th birthday, but I have never once in my life told anyone that she was the smartest or the best looking in her class, or bored anyone with stories about how great she is, or propped up my fragile ego with her accomplishments. Just because I had a kid doesn't mean I have to drive a minivan, coach soccer, worship the little crayon Jackson Pollocks on the refrigerator, or go around thinking that I'm the God of parenting because my kid passed the first grade and covers her mouth when she sneezes. I love her to death and she knows that but I hate groupthink and I won't participate in it.

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(4yo)Amplette: "Daddy, look what I made"

Amplify: "What, it's just a bunch of scribbly crayons"

Amplette: "Can I hang it on the fridge so mommy can see?"

Amplify: "No"

Amplette: "Because why?"

Amplify: "We are non-conformists. So bring me all your crayons and coloring books. You have to learn to be dynamic in a static world."

Amplette: "But I'm 4, and all the other kids..."

Amplify: "All the other kids suffer delusions! Riding in minivans, watching their dvds, playing their games...Repugnant! No daughter of mine will be so conditioned and preordained!"

Her little lower lip quivering, Amplette tries to hold back tears and be strong for daddy...alas, one escapes! It falls upon the disdained "Jackson Pollock" she holds with white knuckles. Pecking away at some message board, Amplify doesn't notice his daughter leave the room.

Years pass. The parenting revolution is at hand. It's chief proponent pecks away at some message board assailing the "groupthink" mentality when he knocks over the last of his Wild Turkey. "[censored] [censored] damn it!"

Disheveled, smelly and alone, Amplify makes his way to the corner market. But on this day a memory is ignited. Across the street on display in the windows of the High Museum of Art...a drawing. Scribbly crayons with a single smudge.

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LOL, very nice. But I think you left out that toward the end of the scene, the music swells, and The Cat's In the Cradle begins to play ...

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Edit- also fluffpop has redeemed herself in this thread in my eyes, since those cruel bj comments she made recently.

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Agreed. fluffpop is my new chick hero, even if she does live in Thailand.