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Childfree
Are Parents Jealous of the Childfree?
Answer: not all, but some
Let’s bust a myth: parents are not all jealous of childfree people. While we are pretty used to parents and other pro-natalists telling us we “should” have children, this could be for many reasons:
- perhaps they’re worried about “population collapse” a la Elon Musk,
- or maybe they’re religious and take the instruction to “be fruitful and multiply” very seriously.
Others don’t realise there’s an option and think having children is “just what you do”. And of course, plenty of parents respect and support our decision not to procreate.
So it’s not at all clear-cut. However…
Some parents ARE jealous of us
There’s a reason why I think this. It’s when I’ve outlined all of the reasons why I don’t want and would be unsuited to raising children and they still insist: “No, you must”.
Why on Earth would they insist I should have children when I’ve made it clear that I would be a terrible parent, the child would grow up knowing it was unwanted (I’m not good at hiding my feelings), and there’s a 99% chance I would forget about it and leave it on a bus at least once?
