Child

"I felt relief. I'd never have to figure out how to put my career on hold, I'd never have to figure out the logistics of childcare with a career. I'd have money to buy a house someday. I'd be able to retire someday. Of course, none of that is a guarantee, but now I wouldn't have to add children to the equation."

BuzzFeed Staff

Apparently, I'm not alone in this response. In 2021, a Pew Research Center study found that 44% of non-parents ages 18–49 were not too likely or not likely at all to have children someday.

—u/mindybower

—u/LovecraftianCatto

"I made that choice in my late thirties. I'd never have to figure out how to put my career on hold, I'd never have to figure out the logistics of childcare with a career. I'd have money to buy a house someday. I'd be able to retire someday. Of course, none of that is a guarantee, but now I wouldn't have to add children to the equation."

—u/WalterBishRedLicrish

"My great-grandmother died when I was 18 — a couple of weeks before I moved out for university. While studying, I was always working to pay for rent, food and all the stuff one needs. So I've already spent a big part of my life taking care of others and putting what I wanted to do on the back burner. Now, my mother needs to be taken care of and that alone takes up a lot of my 'free' time.I feel like I've 'done my time' taking care of other people. I just see the burden of all of it, plus there's no way I could afford it either. The money I have left over goes to taking care of my mother's needs, so there wouldn't be any left for a child."

—u/runtime_error_run

"She is expected to be in charge and on top of all the ancillary 'little things' at all times too — scheduling appointments for everyone, ensuring those appointments are met, shopping for birthdays/holidays/weddings/baby showers for all friends and family members and extended family members (keeping their birthdays straight), responding to family in a timely manner, coordinating trips, planning get-togethers and holidays, grocery lists, planning and executing meals, taking care of pets and children's pets, remembering where everything is in the house, keeping a mental inventory of supplies and ensuring those are replenished…the list goes on. Even previously equitable relationships became so lopsided in terms of responsibilities, it bred resentment."

—u/Starboard_Pete

—u/lackyoshibigdong

—u/TimmyIV

—u/Delanoye

—u/22_jarrah

—u/winifredsummers

—u/realitygroupie

—u/Cyanora

—u/evolving_I

—u/Donttakeadvantage

—u/Dibinem

"We have mental health issues in my family that I don't want to pass on to a child. Childcare costs are extortionate, and centering all holidays around the kids sounds awful. I'm 99.9% sure I'd regret it, and even if I didn't regret it all the time, doing so even once isn't fair either to me or the kid. So I'd rather not."

—u/fattymagoo35

—u/TailsxCream4Eva

—u/anotheruser12486

—u/ChuckBS

"A child would always have to come first, and I want to put me first. There are too many things I want the freedom to try in this lifetime. Add on top of this the fact that I’m poor, messy, and specifically struggle to 'keep house' with executive functioning issues — I barely manage to appropriately clean my space for ME and provide for myself, healthily. Doing that for a child? Whew."

—u/kittaia

—u/heonyswag

"I always said to my husband if he wanted kids I would be happy to have them but I’m never going to be the one that starts asking/suggesting (conversation had before marriage — I didn't spring it on him!). I’m an auntie in a big family so I know I can do the parenting bit and am always happy to babysit and muck in — just didn't want my own. It has taken forever (41 now) for me to accept I’m normal and that's okay."

—u/Unable_Coast9067

Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.