Childfree - Commonly Shared Beliefs

Commonly Shared Beliefs

Supporters of living childfree (e.g. Corinne Maier, French author of "No Kids: 40 Reasons For Not Having Children") cite various reasons for their view:

  • competing familial or social obligations, such as role as primary caregiver for disabled parents, siblings, spouse
  • economic insufficiency
  • Desire for more economic freedom with the ability require working hours to support your lifestyle
  • lack of access to support networks and resources
  • personal well-being
  • existing or possible health problems, including genetic disorders
  • fear that sexual activity may decline.
  • various fears (for example, of being trapped or disappointed) as well as fears for the child
  • damage to relationships or difficulties with them
  • fear and/or revulsion towards the physical condition of pregnancy, the childbirth experience, and recovery (for example the erosion of physical desirability)
  • belief that one can make a greater contribution to humanity through one's work than through having children
  • perceived or actual incapacity to be a responsible and patient parent
  • view that the wish to reproduce oneself is a form of narcissism
  • the absence of a partner one deems fit to sexually reproduce with
  • belief that it is wrong to bring a child into the world if the child is unwanted
  • belief that it is wrong to intentionally have a child when there are so many children available for adoption
  • concern regarding environmental impacts such as overpopulation, pollution, and resource scarcity
  • antinatalism, the belief that it is inherently immoral to bring people into the world. That is, one may generally wish to spare a potential child from the suffering of life.
  • belief in a negative, declining condition of the world and culture and not subjecting a child to those negative conditions. This includes concerns that calamitous events (e.g., global warming effects, war, or famine) might be likely to occur within the lifetime of one's children and cause their suffering and/or death.
  • belief that people tend to have children for the wrong reasons (e.g. fear, social pressures from cultural norms)
  • adherence to the principles of a religious organization which rejects having children
  • dislike of children
  • uncertainty over the stability of the parenting relationship
  • lack of interest
  • belief that one is too old to have children
  • career orientation

Read more about this topic:  Childfree

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