Anybody else glad that they DON'T have kids?

[Bellsprout]

Re: Anybody else glad that they DON'T have kids?

Some of you guys that are saying you despise kids and don't want them around better make damn sure you don't have any. If you feel that way, get a girl pregnant and she has a baby, that poor kid will have one crappy dad.

If that somehow happens, and it's entirely possible, feelings one way or the other about kids go out the window for me. Gotta step up and be there. I made the comment before about not wanting to go to the kid's little league game, but you bet your *** if I accidentally had a kid I would be there and I'd be cheering my *** off.

I don't want kids at the moment, but you can bet that if I had one I would step up, be a man about it, and try to kick as much *** as is possible at being a dad.

[55]

Re: Anybody else glad that they DON'T have kids?

Some of you guys that are saying you despise kids and don't want them around better make damn sure you don't have any. If you feel that way, get a girl pregnant and she has a baby, that poor kid will have one crappy dad.

I am incapable of procreation so therefore I can continue to sleep well at night and wake up in the morning smiling about my hatred towards all of the little germ incubators worldwide.

Is that okay?

[The GIGGAS]

Re: Anybody else glad that they DON'T have kids?

Hell, I'm 22, and I see some of my friends getting married and trying for kids... and I'm like... **** that ****! You just got out of college (or even worse, high school). My fiance and I currently plan to not have kids for ~10 years. That being said, I do want kids. Just sure as hell not right now, nor soon.

Then again, she is a woman, so I'm sure she'll feel the clock ticking at some point in the next 4 years.

At that point, I'll pull a Turk and start making anti-baby brownies.

[Scottdau]

Re: Anybody else glad that they DON'T have kids?

I am incapable of procreation so therefore I can continue to sleep well at night and wake up in the morning smiling about my hatred towards all of the little germ incubators worldwide.

Is that okay?

I know you have my on your ignore list, but someone can pass this on to you. You are older, so that is a decision you are not going to change. You made that decision and stuck with it. But being in your 30's I can see you not changing that decision. Someone that is 21, I can see them changing their mind some day.

[Scottdau]

Re: Anybody else glad that they DON'T have kids?

I will say this if I could do it over again I would have kids when I was in my 20's. I had my first at 32, which is not bad, but I had my 2nd at 37. Now that I am almost 39 and he is 2 I feel very old for him. But kids are great and some day they will take care of you. It is the circle of life. One day they will be changing your diapers.

[superjames1992]

Re: Anybody else glad that they DON'T have kids?

Then we wouldn't be born....I know you're being tongue in cheek, but if every able bodied man and woman had a child we would not have enough resources to feed everyone. Not having children is every bit as important for the survival of mankind as having them is. Once we cracked 5 billion on this planet, we should really consider moderation.

We are not the problem. Liberia, Niger, and Somalia are the problem. The US is 131st in population growth rate according to the United Nations. The UK is 170th. The first Western country to appear on the list is Ireland at #69.

If the third-world stopped having so many babies it would probably be a good thing, but alas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population_growth_rate

[VDusen04]

Re: Anybody else glad that they DON'T have kids?

Bless all you good parents out there. I get it. They change you and all that. Hey, the human race has to reproduce to continue, so good job on you.

But anyone else over the age of 25 ever wake up and just think "DAMN I'm glad I don't have kids!" I know it sounds foul or strange, though I think it's a natural adaptive instinct in an overpopulated world. I'm not knocking parenthood at all. In fact, my little brother is 10 years younger than me, so when I was a teenager I got a taste of what it would have been like to have to take care of a baby, and as a young man I got more than a taste of what it was like to have to be a mentor.

And I love doing those things for my brother. Warms my heart. At the same time: DAMN I'm glad I don't have kids!

Are there other people that feel like this, or would I be the only one at the *"Not a Father's Day" party?

I'm in the same boat, good sir. I'm 26 and I'm lucky enough to have one brother 12 years younger and another 14 years younger than me. The really cool thing is the fact I helped raise both of these fellows (still do) but at the end of the day, I'm not responsible for them. It's like I get to experience only the awesome aspects of parenting: I take them cool places, I teach them how to play basketball, we watch movies, head to the beach, maybe order a pizza, then I send them back to their parents.

I figure I'll want kids at some point, but after watching my father stress (but prevail like a champion) through two sets of two kids (my older brother is 28) it definitely makes me think twice. Plus, and this is admittedly infantile, the only thing that ever made me possibly think of speeding up the kid process was so I could still be young enough to play ball and do it well (thinking of my dad having no knees by the time I was 6). However, I feel I got that "pass it on to your kids" experience through my little brothers.

I'm really paranoid about having kids and the thought alone really scares me; I know I'm not ready for the real thing. I take every precaution but I still find myself thanking the lord after "relations". I always figure I'm due to be that .01% for which the precautions don't work.

[gez20]

Re: Anybody else glad that they DON'T have kids?

I've been against having kids for the last few years. I think the only time I wanted to have them was because it seemed like that would be the natural progression. While that is somewhat true, I realized it was a stupid idea to do something just because everyone else is.

People have kids at an early age here, so I've had friends and colleagues who are my age and dealing with diapers and and day care already. My neighborhood is full of 20's and early 30's couples with little ones running around all over the place. So yeah every time I leave the house and see these kids I think "ugh" and "Cot damn I'm glad I don't have any".

I don't personally see the appeal of having kids. Lots of responsibilities, stress, burden, etc. Who knows how I'll think when I'm 35 years old, but right now life is too good to eff up with having kids. Luckily the girl I'm with shares my disdain of children so I'm good for the moment.

And agree to all of the stuff in dislimbs spoiler. Another thing, I'm not a big fan of modern day parenting but I won't get into that and derail the thread.

[Chip Douglass]

Re: Anybody else glad that they DON'T have kids?

We've got plenty of room in the United States for more people. It's third-world countries that should cut back on reproduction.

Yep. Birth rates are stabilizing in the United States since we're entering the post-industrial stage, so that would be a pretty bizarre argument against having children.

To respond to the topic, I'm currently a shade under 20 and I'm probably going to follow the "no kids" crowd.

[Bornindamecca]

Re: Anybody else glad that they DON'T have kids?

I'm only 21, but the life decision's already been made. I'm not having kids. I don't care if that means I'm single forever. They're annoying, they're a drain on the wallet, and they're a huge responsibility. Personally, I don't see the selling point. Something to love unconditionally? I'll get a dog. I don't have to go bore myself to death at the dog's little league game every week. Maintaining the species? I think the rest of the world has me covered.

Frankly, I just don't see what they'd add to my life that I would want. Good for you guys that have kids, glad they make you happy, but no thanks.

Don't feel bad. I felt pretty much the same way when I was 21 and I feel the same way ten years later. When I see a friend or colleague dealing with some aspect of parenthood, I'm filled with the warmth and happiness of not having to deal with that myself.

Some of you guys that are saying you despise kids and don't want them around better make damn sure you don't have any. If you feel that way, get a girl pregnant and she has a baby, that poor kid will have one crappy dad.

This is really taking the ball and running with it. Obviously the reality and responsibility of your own offspring are different than the idea of them. The thing people overlook is that a lot of guys who really don't want kids know they'd be willing to put the time in to be good parents if they had to, but don't want to have to do that.

Yep. Birth rates are stabilizing in the United States since we're entering the post-industrial stage, so that would be a pretty bizarre argument against having children.

To respond to the topic, I'm currently a shade under 20 and I'm probably going to follow the "no kids" crowd.

Why are people talking about birth rates in the US? lol I made comments about the entire human race and the entire planet. As far as hogging up resources, the US is tops on the planet as far as usage per person. So yeah, one of our greedy gas guzzling, fried ice cream consuming lower middle class families is worth a hundred starving Somalians splitting one bag of rice over the course of a month.

[mKoz26]

Re: Anybody else glad that they DON'T have kids?

Why are people talking about birth rates in the US? lol I made comments about the entire human race and the entire planet. As far as hogging up resources, the US is tops on the planet as far as usage per person. So yeah, one of our greedy gas guzzling, fried ice cream consuming lower middle class families is worth a hundred starving Somalians splitting one bag of rice over the course of a month.

There are certainly enough resources on the planet for all of the people in the world to survive. However, these resources aren't distributed evenly.

As a human, you have the right to have a child, because you're supplying it with resources, or you are failing as a parent. You're only encroaching on others' resources if you're relying on government programs knowing full-well that you could not provide for a child.

And no, accidental babies don't get any exceptions. If you "accidentally" get someone pregnant, you best have the resources and willingness to care for your child, or you a) should have done a better job preventing pregnancy b) shouldn't have had sex.

[Chip Douglass]

Re: Anybody else glad that they DON'T have kids?

Why are people talking about birth rates in the US? lol I made comments about the entire human race and the entire planet.

Because we live in the United States?

It doesn't really matter what context we're talking in; the world isn't getting overpopulated. We could take the entire world population and move everyone to the state of Texas, and the population density there would still be less than that of New York City.

We've been hearing the scare stories about overpopulation for the past 200 years (Malthus FTL). It's up there with the "We're running out of forests" myth.

As far as hogging up resources, the US is tops on the planet as far as usage per person. So yeah, one of our greedy gas guzzling, fried ice cream consuming lower middle class families is worth a hundred starving Somalians splitting one bag of rice over the course of a month.

And it's like that in Somalia because of the lethal mix of civil wars and government corruption, not because Americans are inherently selfish. Redistribution won't solve Third World poverty, but that touches a forbidden area on OS, so I'll stop there.

What you'll usually find is that innovation outpaces the world's problems. And thanks to innovation, the United Nations now says the world overproduces food. For an example, we're now growing more food on less land. We're not overpopulated and we're not running out of resources.

[Jonesy]

Re: Anybody else glad that they DON'T have kids?

Interesting topic. As a 30 year old who had my first child at 28 i gotta say i love it but i can def see the merits of not having children for those who don't want them. It truly is a lot of work at times but so rewarding. I actually would prefer it if more people who didn't really want children didn't go ahead and do it anyway and make crappy parents.

What do you 'anti-kids' guys say to the opinion (my mum actually said this to me when i said i wasn't in any hurry to have children after i got married at 25) that people who never have children are inherently selfish ie they want everything their way, want everything to be exactly like they want it, don't what to share etc?

As for the whole population / resources debate there are some interesting statistics relating to the number of children being had on average in different countries. Some European countries aren't having enough children to replace themselves (ie a couple is having less then 2 children on average thus not 'replacing' themselves) where as in some of the other african / middle eastern countries some families are averaging well over 5 children per family.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_territories_by_fertility_rate

[Splitter77]

Re: Anybody else glad that they DON'T have kids?

no kids for the wife and I and we are 33.
We have 2 cockateils and 3 budgies though.

I honestly dont think I want any kids. I am the type of person who has to be doing something all the time.

If there was a way to have a kid just appear at age 4 or something, and have the wife not have to go through any pregnacy, I might be up for something like that.

But Im not good with crying kids. I wanna go nuts when i hear other kids crying, I cant even imagine hearing that all the time in my own house.

[GAMEC0CK2002]

Re: Anybody else glad that they DON'T have kids?

no kids for the wife and I and we are 33.
We have 2 cockateils and 3 budgies though.

I honestly dont think I want any kids. I am the type of person who has to be doing something all the time.

If there was a way to have a kid just appear at age 4 or something, and have the wife not have to go through any pregnacy, I might be up for something like that.

But Im not good with crying kids. I wanna go nuts when i hear other kids crying, I cant even imagine hearing that all the time in my own house.

They already have that. Angelina Jolie is good at it. Don't even have to go to a 3rd world country.

Some people would rather adopt than have their own.