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• Motherhood? I've Got Other Things to Do

  Times they are a’ changin’—at least when it comes to the fertility of American women aged 15 to 55. U.S. Census Bureau numbers reveal that record numbers of women are choosing not to have kids, and many women who do give birth are making non-traditional decisions about motherhood. In 2006, 20 percent of women between the ages of 40 and 44 had no children, compared with 10 percent in the 1970s.  Read More... Posted Aug 22 2008, 05:44 PM by Hannah Tennant-Moore with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: children, mothers, childfree, Motherhood, fertility, working mothers, same sex marriage, single, stay-at-home mothers, american women, u.s census bureau, child-free, choosing not to have kids

• Snakes, Oops, Babies on a Plane! Babies on a Plane!

  If you're planning on taking your family out by plane for the Labor Day weekend holiday, you might be interested in this: Out  of 20,000 travelers surveyed by AirfareWatchdog.com, 85 percent said they would support the creation of a section just for babies and small children on planes. And fully 100 percent of those polled said they'd pay $20 extra each way to be on a longer flight (2 hours plus) with no kids under 13, at all. I'll make a confession here: I have not flown since my kids were born. The very thought of it makes me want to lay down and have a glass of wine. Read More... Posted Aug 22 2008, 04:02 PM by Amy Kuras with | with 12 comment(s) Filed under: babies, toddlers, childfree, airlines, flying, airplane, bad ideas, plane flight, child-free section, plane ride

• Controversy: Everybody's Bitchy

  There's no doubt which post struck the biggest nerve this week:  Rachael's  "Childfree And B*tchy.  Why Yes You Are," has racked up over 80 comments so far - and I have to say, the level of bitchiness was impressive on both sides of the debate.  Sherry accused the targets of Rachael's post of being "just as rude and offensive as they find the kids who dare to cross their path. They are selfish, self absorbed, and inconsiderate always thinking that everyone and everything in the world revolves around them."  Speaking for the other team, Josh kept it short and simple:  "YOU KNOW, ABORTION IS LEGAL.. USE IT." I think what surprised me the most about this free-for-all - besides what also surprised CoolAuntieTina, who observed, "I love this discussion. The funniest part is all the "Childless and B*tchy" people coming onto a *PARENTING* website to say how horrid kids are. Ha!" - was that I don't think there's actually much philosophical difference between the two sides.    Read More... Posted Jul 11 2008, 08:05 AM by Amy S.F. Lutz with | with no comments Filed under: parents, childfree, children behaving badly

• Heading Down the Aisle? Not So Fast

  First comes love, then comes marriage, then come the baby carriage? Not neccesarily in that order, if  it happens that way at all. But New York's Rockland County has a legislator, Jacques Michel, who apparently thinks we're still back in 1955. He's advocating a measure that would require people to take parenting classes before applying for a marriage license. It's one of those things that sounds like a good idea – until you think about it. Read More... Posted May 15 2008, 11:02 AM by Amy Kuras with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: marriage, childfree, parenting classes, bad ideas, nontradtional families, Jacques Michel, Rockland County

• 10 Reasons Not To Have Kids: Is That All You Got?

  Why should you not have kids? Let me count the ways... Well, Dirty Writer came up with 10, stuff like "They Are an Economic Drain" and "Once they are Born you are Pretty much Stuck with them". Mmm hmm. Go ahead and read them; just wake me up when you are done.  Back? Okay, those of us with kids can probably give you a whole lotta better reasons to put the lock and chain on the uterus or the sperm tool, depending on your situation. Rachel rattled off: "bad for sex life, stinky, bossy, fluffy, they take away everyone's attention from YOU" in about 30 seconds. She also had one of my top reasons in there, "bad for the hoo hoo" which I'll underline by saying, think to yourself: do I like my vagina? Because it will never, ever forgive you. Unless you go c-section, and that's its own can of worms.    Read More... Posted Aug 12 2007, 12:30 PM by Kelly Mills with | with 6 comment(s) Filed under: childfree, women's health, sex after kids, mom jeans, no kids

• Babble Talk: The Thoughtful Non-Breeder

  In this week's edition of "Notes From a Non-Breeder" here on Babble, Johanna Gohmann speaks honestly and forthrightly about why she's chosen to stay child-free, at least for now. Jo comes from a large family herself and is the aunt to an entire football squad of nieces and nephews, the only of her siblings yet to procreate. That's a lot of pressure.  Frankly, I was prepared to hate this article, having read some of the bizarre and spiteful comments to Patti's plea that we all just get along. I mean, there is definitely some major polarization going on between the Breeders and the Non-Breeders. And why can't we all just get along? It seems to me that the choice to have a child or not is a very personal one, and no one can really understand your motivations for your choice but you. But Johanna clearly and poignantly states her reasoning for remaining childfree, the biggest one not being any reservations about children themselves, but more about her own capacities as a parent. It seems to me that someone as thoughtful and reasoning as Johanna about her own abilities and perhaps shortcomings would likely be a great candidate for parenthood, if that's her ultimate choice. I think all any of us can really aspire to is knowing ourselves and accepting what we see, whatever that truly is.    Posted Jun 01 2007, 10:52 AM by Karen Murphy with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: choice, childfree, babble talk, notes from a non breeder, non-breeders, Johanna Gohmann, breeders

• The ChildFree Movement: Can't We All Just Get Along?

  I'm totally fine with people who choose not to have children. I try to be sensitive and not make automatic assumptions that people I meet are, or intend to be,  parents. Still, the activist wing of the childfree population leaves me feeling a little...well, I'm not really sure how to feel. I'm probably not supposed to feel anything at all, right? Live and let live, and all that. Only, not all of them want to extend the same live and let live philosophy toward those of us who have chosen to bring children into the world, and it's hard to control the visceral reaction to a group of people who are speaking out against what I have done (having kids) and what I've chosen to fight for (the rights of parents in our society, via groups like MomsRising). An article about childfree activists in a recent issue of Bust magazine got me kind of hot under the collar (unfortunately it's not available online), and a recent story about childfree people in the San Francisco Chronicle's making me think about the issue all over again--I don't have any problem with people who choose not to have kids, or who don't like kids, or who want to associate with other likeminded people. I have enough trouble restraining myself from wringing the necks of my beloved family members who wonder when we're having another one (even though we've made it clear that two is our limit), or worse, and more offensive, when people assume that we would for some reason not be content with having only girls and expect us to "try for a boy". I can't even imagine what it would be like to have people be so dismissive of a choice not to have children at all, as though grown women and men can't possibly have the ability to make that choice for themselves? But then I hear about childfree people whose podcast signoff is "Keep from breeding!" and who actively speak out against family-friendly workplace policies, and I wonder what the hell it's all for, anyway. Are we all so selfish that we have to assume that everything we want is what's best for everyone, and everything they want is selfish and of no benefit to the greater good? How did we get here, how did we reach this "us against them" place in our society? How can we fix it? (image credit: The Bipolar View)    Posted Mar 05 2007, 08:21 AM by Patti with | with 166 comment(s) Filed under: children, parents, san francisco chronicle, childfree

• Are the Childless Unfit To Implement Foreign Policy?

  Senator Barbara Boxer is under fire for comments she made during a Senate Foreign Relations  Committee regarding proposed troop expansion in Iraq.  Boxer pointed out that neither she nor Secretary of State Condolleezza Rice would "pay a price" for increased troop deaths in Iraq - Boxer because her kids and grandkids are the wrong age, and Rice because she's childless and unmarried. Ironically, it is the political Right that has labeled Boxer's remarks a "low blow," inappropriately correlating Rice's marital/parental status and her inability to make proper policy choices regarding troop size in Iraq. While I disagree with Boxer's approach, she raises an excellent point.  Isn't it absolute nonsense to have those in power (with little or nothing to lose) making policy decisions that will increase the Iraqi and American death toll?  But neither childlessness nor marital status counts here.  American military personnel in Iraq continues to be vastly overrepresented by poor and minority populations, only 5 of whom have parents serving in Congress or the Senate (and none with parents in the President's Cabinet). It's rare that anyone in power ever suffers personally because of our country's war mongering. Posted Jan 15 2007, 12:00 PM by Rachael Brownell (Redsy) with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: children, politics, iraq, families, Iraq War, Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, childless, childfree