Why do people decide NOT to have children?

Question

besides the ones that aren't in a relationship

Answer 1

some people believe the world is not good enough to bring children into it, others know that they would not be suitable parents - maybe they're too selfish, but good for them to at least know that they can not give their time to children.

Answer 2

A common misconception is that people who choose not to have children are selfish, but this is not the case. There are people who have careers and/or lifestyles that they love that do not allow for parenthood (ie. world travel). They do not want to give up their careers or lifestyle, and they do not want any of their offspring to be cheated by not having enough parental attention.

Women who leave work to have children often never regain their earning power because they get off track. It really does make a woman to think twice especially if she enjoys her work or wants that level of income.

There are also people who just don't have the temperment to have children and are honest with themselves.
There are people who do not feel economically stable in their lives to feel comfortable raising a child.

Then there are people who have health issues or medical history that make having children problematic.

Then you have people who believe that adding more human beings on this planet just adds to the earth's ecological woes.

There is also the larger problem of our culture which doesn't really value motherhood, parenthood, or children. Our economic structure and culture make keeping families together and putting the best interest of children far last in the list of priorities. Our economic structure and culture instead puts high value in corporate achievement, profits, and consumption over everything else.

Deciding whether or not to have children is an intensely personal decision that should be respected.

Answer 3

For me, I am still debating whether to have children or not. I feel I would not be a good parent for my children, another reason is that I don't want to bring a child into this world the way it is now. If and when I decide to have children, I want to give them the best. I know that where I am now, I am not able to give everything that a child would need. Even though I am in my thirties, I do not have the desire to have kids right now, nor do I think I will ever be. I just have to wait to see what God has in store for me.

Answer 4

Why Have Children?

Eric Cohen



Over the past years, a new demographic crisis has emerged as a subject of intense debate: the most affluent, most advanced, freest societies of the world are not having enough children to sustain themselves. Recent books—including Phillip Longman’s The Empty Cradle (2004) and Ben J. Wattenberg’s Fewer (2004)—have described the potentially tragic consequences of this decline. Lamenting the collapse of modern birthrates, world leaders as diverse as Vladimir Putin and Pope Benedict XVI have advocated pro-natalist state policies. Popular magazines and newspapers that once worried about the horrors of a “population explosion”—mass starvation in developing countries, environmental catastrophe, the subjugation of women trapped by the excessive burdens of serial motherhood—today ask whether free societies mean to perpetuate themselves at all.

Answer 5

My suggestions:

1. They detest children.
2. They value other things more.
3. They believe they are too young or are getting too old.
4. For financial reasons.
5. They have taken an oath of celibacy.
6. They haven't found the right person.
7. They would rather adopt children.
8. They have other, more important responsibilities.
9. They are not psychologically, physically or spiritually prepared.
10. They have goals still to achieve.

Answer 6

There are lots of reasons!

Maybe they can't afford children. Maybe they are more career oriented and don't want to have children that never see their parents. Maybe they've seen the way other people's children turned out!!

No matter the reason, it's a very personal choice. I don't believe that anyone has the right to ask a couple why they don't want children. It's nobody's business, but the couples. That advice goes for parents as well as nosy friends etc.

Answer 7

Money for one. They don't believe they can handle the responsibility. Not everyone should have children. I'm 26, I thought I would get started in 2 years, I think it will be more like 5. We have so much stuff to do to the house and money is an issue.

Answer 8

For me personally, for years I said I would never have kids because I grew up without my father. I didn't want to have a child and not raise it because of a divorce. For some people children aren't seen as needed. They can be just fine without them. I'm coming around to the idea, but it has been a long hard road.

Answer 9

Financially insecure,
Cruel world to bring children in,
Hard to protect children from other irresponsible children and they uncaring parents, because they refuse to see the wrong that their child did and want to fight you over it.
School system does not protect children,
Increase in violence in schools
teachers molecting kids
overpopulation in some countries,
they are afraid of committment and responsibility to the child,
Some are not grown up themselves,
some are selfish,
and some don't even like children at all even knowing they were kids themselves at one time
Wow there are many reasons, it can go on and on.

Answer 10

The most prevelant reason is that either partner is physically unable to reproduce. That aside the responsibilty for the rearing/nurturing of another individual is too overwhelming for some couples. The commitment to have a "family" also restricts couples interested in the pursute of the "good life". (2) couples I know personally have chosen to be "childless" because the individual people weren't interested in becoming parents due to those same restrictions.

Answer 11

They are usually people who are self-fufilled or have goals that don't leave time for child rearing.

Some feel it's unfair to have children if they can't be stay-at-home parents.

Other people I have met chose not to have children of their own because there are too many unwanted children on this earth that need adopting- and if their (the adults) lives ever allow time and finances for child rearing they will adopt instead of breed.