“They Will Simply Have To Keep An Eye On Their Kids”: Family Members Are Enraged At This Woman Who Refused To Childproof Her House For Their Kids

Recently, a 30-year-old childfree woman who bought a new house and moved in a couple of months ago turned to the AITA community for advice.

“I don’t have kids hence no need to childproof my house. Of course I don’t have swords sticking out of my walls but my stairs don’t have baby gates, etc.,” the Redditor HelpEducational8357 wrote in a post.

Since the author’s house is the biggest, her family has been pushing her to host Thanksgiving this year and she agreed, although it sounds like a bit of work. “I have 5 siblings who all have their own kids (between 2-4 each). It’s a lot of people when you add my parents, aunts, uncles, etc.,” HelpEducational8357 explained.

But the author’s siblings are now demanding that she childproof her house, arguing that it’s not safe enough for their kids to run amok. The tension in the family soared and as it reached the boiling point, the Redditor wants to know if she made the wrong decision.

More and more people nowadays are opting for a childfree life, while the societal pressure to have kids and build one’s life according to your kids is still huge.

“If anything should be obvious as a choice, it’s having a child, because the parent isn’t the only one involved in the outcome. Knowing to parent is a choice means weighing the pros and cons,” Isabel, Kristen, and LeNora, who run the project Childfree Girls, a podcast and web series for the childfree community, told Bored Panda.

There is an abundance of reasons why a person opts out of becoming a parent. “Someone thinking (like, really thinking) about becoming a parent might, for example, remind themselves that having a baby isn’t just having a baby; it’s becoming a parent every single day for the rest of their life. They might (should) consider the emotional, financial, and time commitments involved,” Childfree Girls explained.

Moreover, “if they’re happily partnered, they might imagine the change that will take place in their relationship dynamic and decide whether that change is something they can deal with.”

“They might force themselves to acknowledge that their child might be born with extreme medical needs or be like the kid in We Need to Talk About Kevin (small chance, but still—a chance) and ask themselves whether they want parenthood enough to accept that as a possibility,” Childfree Girls explained.

“As more people become aware that parenting is a choice—not inertia to follow, not a milestone to achieve, not ‘just what you do’ because you got married—they’ll treat it as such,” they concluded.