The 7 reasons for not having children

Until recently it was taken for granted that everyone wanted to have children and start a family. The traditional family has been the general norm for thousands of generations, but the truth is that in recent times things are changing and reasons are emerging not to have children.

Despite the fact that there is still a lot of judgment about life choices in some contexts, the truth is that today we enjoy much more freedom than our parents. The decision not to have children is much more widespread than a few years ago and many people find that it is a totally suitable option for them.

There are at least 7 reasons not to have children

The world is changing a lot in the passage of a few generations, and What before most would think is strange, today does not have to be. There are different reasons for a person to decide something like this or not, but in any case there may be good reasons for not having children.

In general they are taken into account personal motives, but there are also people who consider even social and ecological issues. Be that as it may, below we give way to

the top 7 most important reasons to consider not having children.

1. Economy

Calculating how much money it costs to have children is a question that is difficult to achieve, but that children cost money is unquestionable.

Raising a baby from birth to three years is one of the most costly stages. Other expenses such as the price that a babysitter may charge or the cost of kindergartens can be expensive.

Obviously, it all depends on the family situation and life choices that are made from the arrival of the baby. For example, and following the previous example, it is not the same to have the ability to leave the children with the grandparents as not to be able to leave it, or to take the child to a public or private educational center.

2. Having children impacts your health on a physical level

It has been scientifically proven that fathers and mothers tend to lead a less healthy lifestyle compared to those who do not have children. You have to take hours of other activities to take care of your children, making it more difficult to take care of yourself.

For example, sleeping eight hours a day being parents is a luxury, especially if it is the first years of the child's life. Also you tend to drink more coffee, not exercising, being overweight and even smoking in the cases of parents. If what we want is to take care of ourselves, they are reasons not to have children.

3. Respect yourself

No one but yourself should be responsible for his actions and you know what he feels. That later our opinion may have changed is something that we have to accept, but we should not do things because others push us to do so.

Women generally feel much more social pressure that men: "You will miss the rice", "you will regret it", "you will not understand what true love is" or "you will feel incomplete" are still too widespread comments.

We must not let these comments affect us. They are unfortunate phrases from people who have little thought about how these comments can affect others. They live locked in their ideal and are generally closed-minded. Everyone has to build their own ideal and everyone has to respect it.

4. Be a free couple

As in the previous section, social pressure does not have to be considered at any time to make this decision. There are couples who feel that having children is the next logical step in their relationship, since they already have job and financial stability, a car, a house, etc.

It does not matter that the parents or in-laws expect the couple to have children. It doesn't matter which friendly couples are having babies. Each couple is a world they say, and the truth is that a couple is perfectly capable of finding happiness only by being with each other.

We must reflect on what we want in life or if we are following an ideal of society. Wanting to love a child is the indispensable condition to have it. It is important to be clear about this because couples who had children can have crisis after their baby is born.

5. Couple's health

Although the health of the couple can be as good or better with children than without children, the truth is that having a child puts pressure on your partner.

It is normal, because in times of change each person has to adapt to the new context. You have to reorganize roles, tasks and obligations, and this can have an impact on the couple. Small crises can appear when having new demands, but they can also be overcome and thus further strengthen the couple.

As in the previous sections, you simply have to think about whether having a baby is a stimulating step for the couple and whether you are willing to sacrifice certain things. If this is not clear, it is more likely that the marital satisfaction may put yourself at risk to a lesser or greater degree.

6. Impact on working life

It is one of the main reasons. In the world in which we live we need more and more years to prepare our professional training. Once in the workplace, having children can torpedo the dream career.

The issue is that, although it has been seen that paternity can translate into a salary bonus, for most women motherhood translates to a career penalty.

This is related to the popular concept of the “wage gap”. The State should make policies to reduce the birth rate and avoid that companies carry the risk of having to do without someone on their staff and end up being unfair to women.

7. Extreme uncertainty

The precariousness of work and the uncertainty of the future profoundly influence the decision not to have a child. The truth is that there are no perfect conditions to procreate, because we live in an imperfect world.

Anyway, we could say that job and / or economic uncertainty are important conditions. Having enough money and financial stability is very important to avoid suffering anguish. Besides that, having a partner with whom to raise the baby, time available and the clear desire to have children is what we could call “ideal”.

But not easy to control all variables And that is why we want to emphasize that there are infinite cases in which it has been successful if you want to have the baby. For example, having a partner is not a sine qua non requirement to have children, only that objectively in theory assistance could be better guaranteed. In fact, there are many single-parent families who enjoy exceptional family life.

Bibliographic references:

• Del Fresno García, M. (2011). Challenges for social intervention with families in the XXI century. Trotta.
• Del Fresno García, M. (2011). Family and marriage crisis in Spain. Studia Europaea Gnesnensia. Instytut Kultury Europejskiej. Uniwersytet im Adama Mickiewicza, Poznań, Poland.
• Gough, K.; Lévi-Strauss, C.; Spiro, M. AND. (1974). The nayar and the definition of marriage. The origin of the family. Controversy about the origin and universality of the family. Barcelona: Anagram.
• Vázquez de Prada, M. (2008). Contemporary family history. Rialp.