34 People Discuss The Good, The Bad And The Ugly Sides Of The Childfree Lifestyle

In our society, parenthood is often viewed as one of the ultimate goals a person can achieve in their life. Yet, not everyone is actually cut out for it, so some opt to avoid becoming a parent. 

Of course, like any other lifestyle, it has its ups and downs. Today’s list, which was gathered from various people’s opinions scattered across the internet, reveals some of those. 

As you might notice, quite a few of these things (especially the advantages) directly correlate with the most common reasons why some people choose to not become parents. 

For instance, freedom—many folks just want to live their lives for themselves, but when you’re a parent, that’s just not possible to do. Unless you’re fully neglecting the child, and we don’t have to tell you how wrong that is, do we? This reason is even highlighted by the term “child-free” itself. It contains the suffix -free, which gives the freedom and personal choice to live this way. 

But that’s far from the sole reason why parenthood isn’t everyone’s choice. Maybe a person didn’t have the best childhood and/or relationship with their parents and they’re afraid of repeating those patterns. Maybe they just worry about their ability to parent. 

Others might be worried about outside forces, like wars, climate crisis, overpopulation, high living costs, and other things—just look at the news and you will get the gist. 

The thing is that it’s up to each person and they shouldn’t be judged if they decide to be child-free. Sadly, more often than not, they are. Again, just like the reasons behind this choice, its consequences (of usually being judged), have different causes too. 

As this Reddit comment points out, being child-free is a deviation from social norms, and usually deviations are treated pretty negatively. 

For some people, what resonates about this choice is how different it is from what we’re used to—as we mentioned, parenthood is viewed as the ultimate goal.

This especially comes from the people who've had children, because they felt pressured to, and watching someone avoid that makes them irate, as it fills them with the “what ifs” of their own life. They doubt their life choices when hearing that others don’t want to live that way, so they lash out at them. 

This other Reddit comment mentions a similar thing while adding new layers. For example, the men-women dynamics in society. Men (especially conservative, religious ones) don’t like hearing about women opting out of motherhood, as it suggests the possibility that they won't need men either, instead being independent, which might challenge their status as “head of the house.” 

These are just a few of the real reasons why child-free folks tend to be despised by some. Of course, it's important not to generalize—people are complicated beings, and understanding their actions isn't always so simple. At the same time, certain things like hatred shouldn’t be justified.

What are your thoughts on being child-free? Maybe you have some unmentioned pros and cons in mind? Share everything with us in the comments!