TeenHelp - View Single Post - To kid or not to kid... That is the question

Edit avatar · **Re: To kid or not to kid... That is the question -** April 3rd 2022, 01:06 AM

I don't want kids, I never have, and I never will. This isn't only due to mental health issues and personal issues; I have various physical limitation and health issues that prevent me from being able to focus on raising a child. I knew this long ago, and I gladly accepted it. I actually recall having to do that flour baby during "sex ed" in school, and I probably left it on the couch one of my cats always monopolized.

Having a child requires a lot of work. Not only do you put your own body through stress for nine months, with possibility of complications with the fetus; you go through stress mentally and emotionally as well. Birth can be traumatizing — even fatal for both mother and the unborn child.

Caring for someone else from neonate to high school graduation is expensive. You lose the life you had before; and some women want that! Some women want to dedicate their time to staying at home and raising a child/children. But others are driven career women who end up spending more time at the office, and their child spend more time with the nanny than their own mother. That can be traumatizing for the child themselves, and they could grow up to be resentful — or maybe not!

In addition to the expenses of raising a child, putting them through at least sixteen years of school; a woman's mental well-being may also suffer. Post-partum depression hits really hard, and I have had two friends and a family member go through it. I don't ever wish it on any woman. For some, it might last just a few months with a few doses of medication; but for others, it can last years.

There might be other environmental/situational factors that affects the 'joys' of having a child: Being a single parent, having an absent spouse, history of substance abuse still ongoing, not being able to afford childcare and other necessary expenses, to name a few things.

I think this is something that should always be discusses by the parties involved. I know my decision, but I can't make it for others.