Some people dismiss our self-identification as childfree because they themselves used to not want children, but grew to want children when they got older.
As it happens, I used to want children. When I was 10, 11, 12 years old, I had what I can best describe as a strong biological yearning for to have a baby, and even as old as 14 the idea held appeal for me. Nothing ever came of it because mentally and socially I hadn't reached the point where even kissing a boy seemed like a pleasant way to pass the time. But as I grew up and matured, I came to realize that it wasn't actually children I wanted. I wanted a living breathing visible sign to show the world that someone loved me, and when that desire met my newfound flood of hormones it manifested itself as a yearning for a baby.
Does that invalidate your desire to have children, making it merely a childish phase that you will grow out of?
1 comment:
"Some people dismiss our self-identification as childfree because they themselves used to not want children, but grew to want children when they got older."
When I was younger, this DROVE ME CRAZY.
The assumption that what happened to them will therefore happen to me.
That their experience is universal.
They lack all imagination. They are close-minded. They don't know how to listen. They are stupid.
Your analogy to previously wanting children and out-growing that belief is GREAT.
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