Being CHILDFREE.

Are you not physically fit to carry a baby?” “oh ! such a selfish act” “Are you afraid of taking responsibilities?” “Who will look after you when you are old?” “How can you choose to let your generation end right here?” “How can you be so selfish?”

The problem is, people feel obligated to answer that they are not answerable to. Most people find it hard to say ‘no, it’s just choice and I do not care about what anyone else thinks’.Forcing one’s choice is unacceptable! so is questioning and stigmatising the beliefs and choices another human being makes, as long as they are legal and ethical.

To really understand the “why,” you have to understand what childfree people face. First off, Kate McGuiness herself refers it to as “childless” in her piece. This is the wrong terminology & too many people use it. A “childless” person is someone who hates not having kids and got a huge difference from being “childfree”.The “childfree,” on the other hand, adamantly DO NOT want to have kids. Plain and simple.

Second, let’s dispel some myths about the childfree:

1. Not all childfree people hate kids.
2. Childfree people aren’t selfish. Think about their own choice to have kids. Why did they make that decision, especially if you didn’t have money, resources or any willingness to put that child’s welfare before your own? A recent NY Times covers this topic. At least these people know they don’t want to have kids and aren’t imposing misery on an innocent life.
3. Not all women want to have kids. And not all women should have kids

Not having a child when you know you are not equiped or don’t desire to be a parent is the ethical and frankly “moral” thing to do!.I hope that one day the world will have more people who would want to adopt kids and give them a happy life. And as far as raising children so they can take care of you when you are old is concerned, I don’t believe that a child should be treated as a retirement plan. It’s one of the most selfish things one can do and not by calling the decision of being childfree to be the selfish act.

When we do not judge a person for having their own children, we must not judge those who do not wish to add another life to an already overpopulated world. We must accept and welcome any ethical measure to reduce the burden of overpopulation.The next time when a person thinks of telling a women who doesn’t want to have kids that “she’ll change her mind”, remember that you are subtly pressurising her to make a decision she has already said is not right to her. Allow women to make their own decision in their own terms . Well the first step in this process is to leave them hell alone.

I would also like to add up “While we appreciate each other’s similarities, we must respect each other’s differences”.