As a fellow millennial at 34, my wife and I's first is currently on the way. It doesn't feel real to me, yet, but I've been told that switch will flip when I'm standing there in the delivery room holding it.

I honestly feel like the kids we do have will end up blaming us for our country's shortcomings just like we're currently doing with Boomers and GenX.

But some of the comments I've been reading are just sad:

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36 here and no kids. I helped raise my sister’s kids while I was a teen and knew then that I didn’t want any of my own.

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Yep. 35 and had my vasectomy done last year. No kids for me.

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It took me 3 tries before a doc agreed to give me a vasectomy. I have never had a regret, even a little bit and it is glorious.

Why wouldn't they do this for me at 18? At 25? Why did I have to wait until my 30s to get healthcare?

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I'm just a slight bit younger and also did mine last year.

No regrets. Especially as I was just recently lounging in a nice hotel hot tub and listening to some little kids shrieking while playing in the adjacent pool, making the same sounds that I imagine people would make while being dismembered with a chainsaw.

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Turning 35 this year, married, and childfree. There are rare days that I wonder if I’m missing out and then I see our friends and family with theirs. That effectively cements my childfree status. I was parentified as a child and honestly, I would rather regret not having kids than regret having them.

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29F here, I’m a fence sitter. There’s something in me that really does want to have a kid but I also like the idea of having the money and freedom to travel and have other experiences that kids can kind of hinder. But then, there’s that nagging feeling that when I’m old I’ll regret it if I don’t have one. And I look at the amazing relationship my mom and I have and want that for myself with my own child, too.

I dunno man. shite’s hard

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Fwiw, our perspective is that you can 100% parent "correctly" and there is zero guarantee that your children will still be 1) living near you in old age, 2) have a close relationship with you in old age, 3) develop into adults that share interests & commonalities with you.

Being real about it being a crap shoot of having a close relationship with children later in life helped us make our decision about no kids (along with additional considerations).

This post was edited on 5/20/24 at 5:13 pm