Kids? No Thank You!

I'm at the age now where I SHOULD be having kids. At least that's what society, my mom, and my friends say. In fact, I don't even get the "When are you going to get married?" questions anymore. I get the "When are you going to have kids?" questions. Umm... I'm not even married! I'm quite traditional and wish marry BEFORE I have children. But since I don't believe in changing my last name after marriage, I doubt any guy would want to marry me. Therefore, I will not have kids. :)

It's odd but it seems that the older I get, the less I want children. Shouldn't it be the other way around? My biological clock seems to be confused or something. For one, I think I am still too young to have children. I'm not even thirty! Practically all of my friends have children. Most have at least two or three. My mom already had all four of us by the time she was my age.You would think this would pressure me into having them. On the contrary, this makes me want to have kids even less.

Honestly, parenting seems like an everlasting pain in the butt. I see my friends with their children and I am quite repulsed by them. Firstly, you lose all of your freedom when you have kids. When, they are young, you can't just go out and do whatever you want on a whim. You have to make sure you have a babysitter or someone reliable to watch them and plan everything ahead of time. No room for spontaneity. How sucky is that? I just love my life too much right now and I'm not ready to give it up. If I want to go on a long vacation, I can. A lot of the time, we can't do group vacation trips because my friends don't have babysitters. Yuck!

When you become a parent, your needs are no longer important. Your life is dedicated to fulfilling the needs of your child now. You will spend the rest of your life hoping your child makes the right choices. You also have to put up with their annoying rebellious stage, while telling yourself the stretch marks, sagging breasts and unflattering figure were all worth it for these ungrateful little twerps.

I'm not ready to give up my life just yet and I'm not sure if I ever will be. I really don't have time to worry about other people when I'm too busy taking care of myself.

I know plenty of people who became parents at a very young age, yet refuse to grow up. Grandma and grandpa ends up raising the grandkids while mom and dad party and do all the young people stuff. Isn't that selfish? I'm sorry, but once you have kids, no matter the age, it's time to grow up. Your life is over. No one forced you to have them. Also, some couples decide have babies, hoping it would fix their ailing relationship. Isn't that selfish too? Children should not be used as therapy for couples to help solve their conflicts.

I used to think that I was such a selfish person for not wanting kids because I still care about myself too much. But now that I think about it, I'm actually not selfish at all. People who decide to become parents when they are not ready, are actually the selfish ones. At least I have the sense to wait until I am ready (if that time ever comes).