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Sunday, January 14, 2007

My Soap Box

Current Mood:
CC is listening to: some jazz saxophone piece--I'm too lazy to look it up :-).

*Warning: rant*

I had a conversation with a friend that eventually led to the question as to why Steve and I don't have children. Again.

Oy. I cannot understand why some people insist on repeatedly hounding child-free couples into having children. I mean, when someone tells you they prefer blue over red, you don't ask them why. And even if you do, you don't ask them why *over* and *over* again. It's like they don't believe you, like it's not a valid choice--"Is that your final answer?"

Other things that Steve and I experience:
You know what I really hate, though? When the person that tries to convince me to have children *doesn't* have children. It's like, "Get a Ferrari! They're awesome! They're great!" "Do you own one?" "Well, no."

Then again, I shouldn't be upset. For me, that's just proof of the extent of the social conditioning. We were raised to think that way: people get married, they have kids. We've been raised to think of children as being the romantic ideal--the ultimate sign that you're a true, loving, married couple.

Surprise! It's not. There are enough abandoned and abused children in this world to tell us thinking that way is simply not accurate.

You know what's sad? Whenever we see families where the parents are unfit, we cluck our tongues and say, "They shouldn't have had children if they knew they were going to be unable to support them." But when someone has exactly that foresight and decides not to have kids because it would be a bad idea, society seems to automatically conclude that there's something wrong with them, or that they're selfish people for not wanting children.

I've got nothing against people who decide to have children. I really don't. Heck, if my parents didn't make their choice to have kids, I wouldn't be here.

I just wish people would stop having a problem with couples who decide that children aren't for them.

Because, believe it or not, it's okay.

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