WE ARE CHILDFREE

I’m a school counselor and I interact with almost 500 children every day. I love my kids, and I also love the fact that they go back to their own parents at pickup time.

Colleagues, coordinators and others I work with assume that because I work with kids, I’m going to be a great mom. They’ve randomly walked up to me and told me that I shouldn’t delay childbirth any more, what would my in-laws think, how can I as a woman not prioritise motherhood? etc.

There’s also this assumption that my weekends are free, my evenings after work are free, that I don’t have any commitments. At the same time, I hear my colleagues complain about losing their identity, their self care, their husbands not pitching in to raise their kids; followed up with ‘but you should have at least one kid.’

Sometimes it feels like they just want a free woman to be miserable.

I have great appreciation for parents who choose to do this, though. Hopefully childfree by choice will be met with less hate in the future.