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It’s astonishing the number of people who feel as though they need to judge others for their choices when it comes to having children or not. There really is no need to do it at all; if somebody doesn’t want to have a child, society should not make them feel as though it is a bad choice for them to have made. As long as we are happy with our own choices, that should be enough to make everybody else around us accept what we have chosen.
Whenever people who I have first met ask me if I have children, and I say no, the question is always “oh, why not?” I hate having to answer those questions, because it’s not as though I would get right up in their face and ask them why they chose to have a child, even though that’s a decision that I personally struggle to understand. There should not be taboo, ever. It is a woman’s choice.
Although I can’t pretend to completely understand the choice, because obviously it is taken out of my hands and I would have children if I could, I do not think that anybody should ever feel as though they have the right to be involved in the business of other people. Even if you don’t understand a decision, at least accept it - because not everybody wants the same things from life.
When anyone chooses not to have children, they are going against the grain and so they can become a threat to others. Most of the time, people do not accept other people’s choices because it makes them question their own. It is easier for them if everyone lived the same sort of life, that would confirm to them that they have made the right decision about their own life. It is never about the person who chose not to have children but instead the criticisms are all about fear from those people who cannot understand how anyone can have the courage to defy the established convention.