WE ARE CHILDFREE

People in my life are often surprised that I do not want kids, because I spent most of the past 1- years working as a teacher with kids aged 2-18. The truth is, seeing first hand just how much the families struggled is a big part of why I don’t want that for myself.

I am at an age now where many of my close friends are having children, and I honestly love it. I get to watch these little humans grow, spend time with them, support my friends through the struggles, and help out wherever I can.

Later this year, my best friend is having her first baby and I will be serving as her postpartum doula. I’ll stay with them for a week or more and help care for them and the baby. I am so excited that I get to do this for her, and it’s something I would never have the capacity to do if I had kids of my own.

I genuinely do love children, but I also love getting to leave my friends’ babies behind and go back to my house where I can live on my own schedule, have quiet and privacy, and focus on my relationship with my husband (which I would never want to sacrifice for the sake of kids).

Childfree people serve a critical social role. We don’t have every second of our time sucked up by one or a few little humans, so we can disperse our time, energy, and care to more folks. I have plenty of nurturing energy, but I choose to share that with my friends, my family, my work, my community. I put my time into local activism so the world can be a better place for the kids that other people are having.