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I didn't say all people who have children. I was mostly talking about people who have barely started their adult lives and they are already looking to marry and settle. Yeah, their choice and all, but it seems kind of silly.
Without knowing their life expereinces, it's impossible to determine how silly it is. And having kids early can often mean that a person can enjoy their later years far more. My parents had all three of their kids raised by their early 40's, for example. Whereas, when my child hits 20, I'll already be in my mid 50's.
I'm 25... if people think I'm sad for not having children, then they can go jump in a lake for all I care. I don't live in 1950.
Which is what many of the 25-year-olds with children probably think when you say that you are sad for them. It's easy to judge others for their choices, but IMO it's important to remember how you feel when you are judged foir your choices when you judge others for theirs.
There is more to life than marriage and kids now and I intend to live it to the fullest before I someday have children.
That's a matter of each person's perspective. My wife and I waited to have children and now I'm realizing that there's nothing more to life for me than having a family. I used to live it up when I was younger and for quite a while I didn't want children at all. Now I look back and view all that as wasted time. I'll have less time together with my kids, and then I'll have less time with my grandkids for nothing more than some vague memories of a bunch of crap that really meant nothing at all.
But that's just my perspective. Yours will naturally be different than mine. For you, there may well be more to life than marriage and children. For me, I've come to the conclusion that the time in my life that wasn't about those things was all wasted time that I'll never get back. And in many cases, I don't even have the lousy t-shirts anymore. :lol:
And FYI, this is not about judging people based on my own choices. I tend to think in terms of what might be most beneficial to children... an experienced parent with life skills and knowledge behind them. People who hold off on having kids until, say, their early 30's, are usually in a better position to fulfill that. But yeah, everyone has a different biological clock and many don't control when they get pregnant, so I recognize the flaws in my opinion.
My buddy whom I spoke of who is sick with liver disease said something interesting about that recently. He's only 33 and without a transplant, he will surely die. His daughter is 2 and a half.
When I told him that my wife and I were thinking about having a child he told me that we really should do it, and the sooner the better. His greatest fear is not of dying, it's the fact that if he dies now, he'll never see his daughter grow up. He says that he wishes that he had had kids 10 years earlier.
While he is quite young to be facing his own death so imminently, IMO he makes an amazing case for having children younger when you are less prone likely to succumb to some terminal illness.
Well yes, of course, but I don't personally believe that having a child in your early 20's is likely to deliver that.
And you are entitled to that belief. Others will surely disagree.
As someone who didn't have kids when I was younger, I can tell you I know for a fact not having kids in your 20's doesn't deliver happiness either.