I was struck by the cover of this week's Time Magazine and the title "The Childfree Life." I do not really make a big deal about it publicly , but my wife and I have been married for about 15 years and we have no children, by choice.
I will not go into detail about why we made the decision. But, I am proud to say that we talked about it for a long time, and we have our reasons why we made the decision. For those of you who have children, can you articulate the reasons why - or is it because that is what society expects? Did you really make the decision together with your partner to have children? Think about it.
Something curious about the article is that there are almost exclusively opinions from and about women. Is there that much of a "cultural imperative" (as the article says) to be a mother, while males are given a pass even if they become a "first time father at 65." That is interesting to me.
I am not complaining, but just some observations from the past few years. Yes, I have been called "selfish" by some people. People ask me what it is like being "childless." People say it is "not natural" because society and most religions demand offspring, if for anything else, the perpetuation of the species. I understand and appreciate all those points of view.
I am always fascinated by media reaction to stories like this. If you want to read more, just a simple search finds a number of interesting op-eds from the LA Times, HuffPo, The Week, Daily Mail, and US News & World Report.
So, I will never mention this topic again. Just thought I would talk about it once since it was sparked by this week's Time Magazine cover. As the article says, "To make this choice, you really have to be able to manage and navigate all assumptions that are going to be made about you. You have to be able to challenge the status quo."