Having children is a personal choice. While my wife and I both like kids, early in our relationship we decided (for a number of reasons) not to have our own children. We enjoy spending time with our nieces, nephews, & god children. For most, the preceding will suffice. Others may want to know what our reasons are. For those few curious folks, here are some of them (in no particular order):
- With the current global population at around 7.3 billion and a projected peak of about 11 billion in 2100, there is no lack of humans on the earth. While our species is in no imminent danger of dying out many other species, with whom we share the planet, are (and in fact many already have.) A large contributor to these extinctions is the number and ecological impact of us.
- There is a risk (increasing as we both get older) of having a child with a severe mental, physical, or emotional handicap. Some of the disorders in our combined families include bi-polar, migraines, Asperger’s, suicidal tendencies, addictive personality (substance abuse), etc. I would not want to subjugate a child to any of the the above disorders.
- As a frequent migraine sufferer, having loud children around the house would compound my suffering.
- A child may die early in life (as happened to my sister) and cause us terrible grief.
- With the extra time and money we gain from not having children, we are able to volunteer and give much more generously to the charities that are important to us.
Some may accuse us of being selfish while others may say we are shirking our duty or avoiding parts of life. We chose to look at things somewhat differently. It is precisely because we care that we have made this difficult choice. I hope the above has helped you understand our decision.
Other reasons potential reasons:
* wars, mass shootings, murderers, & terrorists
* pandemics & other diseases, severe accidents, & birth defects
* abusers and bullies, the criminally insane, and sociopaths
* the preposterous cost of higher education, housing, etc.
* the child may end up being a lifelong financial and/or emotional burden
Factors that contribute to the decline in birth rates in industrialized nations:
* Women’s empowerment, especially in education and employment, which lowers the uncritical acceptance of childbearing and motherhood as measures of the status of women.
* Improvements in contraceptive technology, which allow people to have more control over their fertility and family planning.
* Lower child mortality, which reduces the need for having more children to ensure survival.
* Increased cost of raising children, which makes having fewer or no children more attractive for economic reasons.
* Urbanization, which reduces the value of children’s work and increases the opportunity cost of having children.
* Social changes, such as delayed marriage, increased divorce, secularization, individualism, and changing preferences and values.