With all the people I've seen recently having kids or getting pregnant, I've decided to make a nice post as to why I have decided to not have kids. This post is not meant to offend, mock, make fun of, laugh at, or degrade anyone, it's just my opinions and reasoning for not having kids myself.

Here's a list of the reasons, I'll elaborate further down

1. There is already a pretty wonderful "overpopulation" problem.
2. Parents no longer care about their kids. They can do no wrong and nobody will take responsibility for their actions.
3. Government feels the incessant need to have more and more "control" over how one's kids are raised.
4. I see all these people who have kids and still go out on a regular basis, passing their kids off on their parents/spouses, etc. When you have kids you don't have the right to be selfish.
5. I don't want to be responsible for screwing up someone else's life.
6. There are enough children out there who are less fortunate, who don't have a home, whether they be orphans, or up for adoption. Don't be selfish, help someone who is less fortunate.

1) Sure, you might say that the world isn't overpopulated, and really, I can agree. It's not overpopulated now, but we've got many countries that have population issues, or restrictions on population growth because of a lack of resources, etc to handle the demand population has.

2) Yes, there are parents out there that still care, but they're few and far between. I can't tell you how many times I've been at a store and a child has gotten EVERYTHING they ask for because the parent can't put their foot down or tell them no. The parent's don't seem to care anymore. Their child can do nothing wrong, god forbid nobody is perfect. I've had it hit home way too much lately with problems with my younger sisters, and other family/friends who've had issues with someone else's child and the parents blow it off, blaming the one who's the victim, saying that their [aggressor's] kid was provoked, or would never do something like that. Then you have the parents who blame the schools for their kids not learning/doing homework? What every happened to being involved in your child's life? Taking some responsibility and making sure your child is doing what they should be, doesn't need help, and just being there for them in general?

3) Did you know that tickling your child is actually considered child abuse? Yep. Don't you think the government has bigger things to deal with, like those parents that pay attention to their drug habits more than feeding their kids? What about the parents that let their kids roam all the time and don't know where their child is a majority of the time? Who is the government to tell us what we can/can't do with or feed to our children? I understand the fact that some parents don't feed their children anything but junk/fast food, and those need to be addressed, but why are you punishing the entire country for the actions of a small subset of them?

4) Ahh yes, the classic "selfish" theory. I've been told I'm selfish because I don't want to have kids. Really?!? I mean, honestly? You're calling ME selfish because I don't want to have kids? What about all those people who did/do have kids, yet rely on their parents all the time? Yes, you know who I'm talking about, the ones who still go out nearly every weekend to party, or those who go out on a regular basis, multiple times/week or take their parents' graciousness of helping them out to babysit, etc for granted. Right now, if I want to go out every night or every weekend, I don't have a child I should be caring for instead, so I can do that without being selfish. Surely thinking of myself when I don't have a child is much less selfish than if I was thinking of myself if I did have a child I should be caring for?

5) "You don't screw up their life!" How do you know? How do you know what is going to happen in my life that would have a negative impact on raising a child? How do you know I won't make some bad choices or even have a temporary lapse of judgement while being a parent? Nobody is perfect, it can, and probably does, happen to anyone/everyone. I'm not saying it's a bad thing at all, rather, I'm saying that I'd like to be safe and not have that on my conscience where I could've done better or done something different to improve the quality of life for my child. Right now, if my life is screwed up, it's my life, it doesn't affect that of a child or someone who doesn't have the ability to make the decisions for themselves. I'm only screwing up the life of someone who can know better or change what's happening.

6) This ties back in the selfish point. Look how many kids there are every year who are put into a foster home, an orphanage, or are put up for adoption because the parents didn't care, couldn't care for them, or died. Rather than judge the child for the reason the parents aren't around, why not help the child out? Give them a better life, something they might not have otherwise experienced. Why add to the population when you can help someone who's already here?

Again, I'm not judging anyone who loves kids, and has multiple, I mean I came from a family of four. I love my parents and siblings to death. I don't have a problem with anything anyone is doing, this is just a good list of reasons why I don't want kids. Take them or leave them, just don't judge me when I say I don't want kids. I wouldn't just say I don't want them because I can (though, in my opinion, that would be a perfectly valid reason, it is MY life after all).

TTFN

-Michael

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