re: What are your thoughts on people who never have children?

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Without kids I’m not sure how you ever grow into a fully rounded individual. Kids provide an opportunity for a person to sacrifice, put others needs before your own and compromise. It’s not always fun but it is undoubtedly a growing experience

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You can learn this without kids but you're right, a lot of people are about themselves until they have kids.

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I’m not saying at all that without kids you can’t be a great person, but you will always have some selfishness there specifically because you can retreat to being on your own when you need to.

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There are TONS of selfish parents. This is absurd.

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Without kids I’m not sure how you ever grow into a fully rounded individual. Kids provide an opportunity for a person to sacrifice, put others needs before your own and compromise. It’s not always fun but it is undoubtedly a growing experience

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Every relationship you have with anyone or anything is an opportunity to sacrifice, compromise and put others' needs above your own. You only do it with your kids because it's a social, moral, and legal obligation. If you don't do it, you will be ostracized, feel bad, and/or be legally sanctioned. You could choose to do it with anyone else, too. You just don't, because it's not required or expected.

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I’m not saying at all that without kids you can’t be a great person, but you will always have some selfishness there specifically because you can retreat to being on your own when you need to. I respect people’s decision to not have kids and understand why they wouldn’t, kids are a challenge, but I do think they are missing out.

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The majority of responses in this thread suggest that having kids was also for selfish reasons--"People without kids don't feel my feelings that make me feel like my life has meaning...My kids bring me such joy...I feel so proud of them...That feeling I get when I see them do whatever..." Or it's seen as a biological imperative to replicate the family DNA, which is equally selfish.