Child-free and lovin’ it

herald.ie

Presumably, celebrities had children before, but it has never been so newsworthy. Obviously, the human race has been going at it for millennia, and it's never been such a big deal. It is arguable that before birth control and women's liberation, it wasn't such a big deal, because women didn't really have a choice. People got married and had children, and that was that. People who didn't get married and had children anyway were often ostracised, and people who didn't have children at all were freaks.

Whatever rusticity we left at the campfire on the edge of the savannah, we've retained the quaint notion that women who weren't tied to the gathering portion of 'hunting and' due to suckling young . . . well, something was wrong with them. And to this day, us child-free types are often looked at askance by those who have chosen to raise families.

Men, they get off the hook -- until they hook up with a female and then they, too, are expected to jump on the reproduction bandwagon and start, er, firing away.

The subject is fraught, and gets defensive very quickly on both sides, and it all seems to come down to selfishness. Ooh, child-free people! You are so selfish! You, with your spontaneous weekend getaways, and fancy dinners, and prosecco on the terrace! Self-indulgent and immature, that's what you are!

Ha! You people who keep populating the planet! How selfish are you, creating more bodies to take up more space? Did you know that as of January 2009, the EU population was 499.7 million? Just what we need! More people to drain the resources of our planet!

Hmm. Rather than selfishness, how about putting it all down to choice?

Technorati Tag: childfree

The 9 commandments of dining with little kids

Better Homes and Garden

The editors removed #10 - Don't Breastfeed at the Table, then issued an apology. Is it really that hard to time it so you're not breastfeeding while you dine out? Never having lactated, I don't know. I don't think we're getting the real answer from the breastfeeding advocates, who are a bit myopic on the matter.

Also check out this angry rant from a delusional mom who is offended by the notion that she bring a smaller stroller. Also, she can't get her kids to stop screaming because the mean people at Better Homes and Garden dare suggest she only use quiet toys and those with a sound off button.

Technorati Tag: childfree

Breaking News: Childfree Woman to be Next SCOTUS Nominee

NBC

Despite the brief hullabaloo (see below) over some pundits demanding a mommy on the bench, it looks like Elena Kagan is Obama's pick for the next Supreme Court nominee. She joins another childfree woman, Soutamayor.

This comes as no surprise, considering the kind of dedication to one's career that one needs to make in order to succeed as these women have. Being childfree or having a spouse take care of the bulk of childrearing (as many male Justices have) gives one a big leg up in this endeavor.

You'll forgive my editorializing here. As a former student of Kagan's I'm a huge fan.

Technorati Tag: childfree

Having kids makes you unhappy, right?

AlterNet

Research suggests that people with children are less happy than those without. Commentator Betsy Stevenson suggests maybe we're looking at it all wrong.
When people hear this fact they immediately suspect that happiness gains from children must exist somewhere. Aren't people who are religious happier when they have kids? No. Aren't people with kids much happier later in life? No. Is this only true for those in a specific education or income group? Nope and nope.

So why do people have children if the data suggest they makes us less happy? There are two possible answers: People are making mistakes, or there is more to life than happiness.

But of course, it can't be the former, so the entire enterprise is devoted to why there must be something wrong with the metric. A little digging into Dr. Daniel Gilbert's research would have revealed the answer - we're bad at predicting, and remembering, what makes us happy. But why let a little thing like good research stand in the way of the conclusions we decided upon before ever asking the question.

Technorati Tag: childfree

The Mother of All Environmental Problems

Epoch Times

At 50-something I am an adult, but not a mother. And though some will gasp in horror, I consider that to be my greatest achievement as a conservationist. . .For millennia, the relentless ticking of a woman’s biological clock has equated her entire life with only one purpose: childbearing. And for my gender, menopause has always largely meant the end of meaning.

Technorati Tag: childfree