Children: You did or did not have them poll?

[Darryl]

Two 13 & 10 wife claims I'm the third. Best thing we ever did.

 

[Marquette]

oh, ok, i get it. just gotta make one minor change 'cuz i'm FIREd

olfactory assault
Co-bathroom user most unpleasant
Need better face mask

bathroom quite awful
in plain sight most disturbing
stood mom with poopy baby

 

[freebird5825]

bathroom quite awful
in plain sight most disturbing
stood mom with poopy baby

you captured it perfectly. sure you weren't there too? LOL

 

[Marquette]

you captured it perfectly. sure you weren't there too? LOL

Let's just say you did a great job of painting a mental picture of the situation

 

[Dreamer]

Moemg, your grandson is adorable.

Put me down in the category of loving to hold babies. I think that they are truly little miracles. My daughter had her first ultrasound today and I was amazed watching my first grandchild moving around and seeing her heart beating. I can't wait until she makes her arrival sometime around the middle of July.

 

[imnxpat]

I'd have to assume it's some sort of biological imperitive to ensure the survival of the species. A baby would never have been able to fend for themselves in the wild whereas, if they weren't too Emo, a teen would.

In other words, from an evolutionary standpoint, you just can't help yourself.

That makes sense as far as the biological imperative to take care of babies goes, Marquette. But what I'm getting at is that the parents who plan to have kids apparently are just thinking in terms of "babies" without thinking ahead that these cute little bundles of joy are not going to stay that way very long.

Don't prospective parents look around and see what happens to kids as they get older? Don't they see what's going on in their own extended families, or how their own lives were when they were younger? Maybe they're just in denial. What else would explain their unpreparedness or inability of so many (most?) people to cope with their children as they grow out of infancy and childhood?

 

[Marquette]

Well, many people seem to enter this 'I must have a baby, now!' phase. I'm guessing that's biologically driven as well since the choice seems illogical.

 

[Moemg]

Moemg, your grandson is adorable.

Put me down in the category of loving to hold babies. I think that they are truly little miracles. My daughter had her first ultrasound today and I was amazed watching my first grandchild moving around and seeing her heart beating. I can't wait until she makes her arrival sometime around the middle of July.

Thank you , I was crazy about him from the first ultrasound picture .

 

[FinanceDude]

Don't prospective parents look around and see what happens to kids as they get older? Don't they see what's going on in their own extended families, or how their own lives were when they were younger? Maybe they're just in denial. What else would explain their unpreparedness or inability of so many (most?) people to cope with their children as they grow out of infancy and childhood?

Well, my childhood wasn't all the great, but I am doing my best to make my kid's childhoods a big fun happy time.........unlike it was for DW and I.........

 

[MGYog]

Between babies and small animals (no matter what kind), I will take babies. At least they grow up and learn to take care of themselves! Had 3 myself.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Between babies and small animals (no matter what kind), I will take babies. At least they grow up and learn to take care of themselves! Had 3 myself.

I know a few people that didn't learn to well how to take care of themselves. Now the penal system is taking care of them.

 

[haha]

Why is it that so many people (especially women) just love babies? But when was the last time that you heard someone say that they just love teen-agers?

BTW this post is not a slam against teens. I recall very well how miserable life can be at that age, but people don't seem to realize that today's cute baby is tomorrow's adolescent.

I like babies; I can't help but smile when I see one. And I like teenagers too. To me they are in many ways at least less full of bull sh*t than a typical American adult, who is overall as intersting as mud.

Ha

 

[scrabbler1]

I knew since I was 20 years old that I never wanted kids. It is the main reason I was able to retire last year at the age of 45. My life would be soooooo miserable if I had kids.

 

[youbet]

Then thank goodness you didn't have kids! Kid haters frequently make lousy parents..... Sometimes things just work out for the best.

 

[WhoDaresWins]

I have one child, a son age 26. He is the best thing in my life. He was a colicky baby but who would have known then that this was the last "trouble" we would give us. I would have liked another, but my husband was not hep on the idea. No grandkids yet as he is a bachelor and appears to be a workaholic. Says he doesn't want kids but he is still so young. I think if he falls in love he can be talked around to the idea. Before we married, my LH agreed to the possibility of two or three but changed his mind after one. I think that the stress of having a baby during his initial hospital residency tapped him out a bit.

 

[bbbamI]

Wow...this old thread brought back to life reminds me how much I miss Marquette.

 

[FinanceDude]

Not surprising that the largest percentage of respondents had no kids. I guess the secret to ER is not to have kids...oh well............TOO LATE!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Caoineag]

I don't like babies but I adore all kids over the age of two. That said, my husband and I decided no kids as the route for us. No biological urge for either of us.

Speaking of which, I am pretty sure I would never have been born if my grandmother had access to any form of birth control so I know I come by the lack of maternal instinct naturally (mother had me to make up for her own rotten childhood and lack of love).

 

[FinanceDude]

Speaking of which, I am pretty sure I would never have been born if my grandmother had access to any form of birth control so I know I come by the lack of maternal instinct naturally (mother had me to make up for her own rotten childhood and lack of love).

There's no owner's manual for kids, instinct is learned.......

I do believe that having children has delayed FIRE by at least 10 years, but i would not trade them for all the money in the world........

My family is VERY SMALL. If I would not have had sons, our family name would have been lost after my generation.........

 

[Martha]

There's no owner's manual for kids, instinct is learned.......

I do believe that having children has delayed FIRE by at least 10 years, but i would not trade them for all the money in the world........

My family is VERY SMALL. If I would not have had sons, our family name would have been lost after my generation.........

My mother's family name ended with my generation. Matriarchy didn't rule and all the women took their spouse's names. Or never had kids.

My family name is now just a bit of evidence that once a male line of my family was from Norway.

I used to put more significance to my last name than I do now. When I married I kept my name. It was the women's lib thing to do and I didn't marry until my 30s, after living with my spouse for years. If I was young again I probably chose to share a name with my spouse. Off and on it has been inconvenient to have different name. And if you have kids it is nice to share one last name in the family, but otherwise, it just doesn't matter to me any more.

As far as having kids, I believe that most all of us rationalize whatever happened (kids, no kids) as being the best. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

 

[ksr]

I never had the urge to have kids. Friends kept assuring me that the "maternal instinct" was going to kick in, probably in my 30's, but it just didn't. Some of this may have been due to the fact that I divorced in my early 30's so just wasn't in a position to have kids at the right time.

I'm sure that not having them helped me to retire early.

 

[bbbamI]

I do believe that having children has delayed FIRE by at least 10 years, but i would not trade them for all the money in the world........

People have told me all my life about their kids...."I wouldn't take a million dollars for the ones I have, but I wouldn't give a nickel for another one!"

 

[FinanceDude]

As far as having kids, I believe that most all of us rationalize whatever happened (kids, no kids) as being the best. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

I'm not trying to rationalize anything as being the best. I never thought I would have children but can't imagine my life now without them.

If something ever happened to DW, she would still live on not only in my mind but in my kids, as I see it. When my sister died, it was quite traumatic for me. However, my youngest exhibits almost "to a T" her personailty. So, my sister lives on in my youngest son..........

 

[ProspectiveBum]

People have told me all my life about their kids...."I wouldn't take a million dollars for the ones I have, but I wouldn't give a nickel for another one!"

That about sums it up!

 

[FinanceDude]

People have told me all my life about their kids...."I wouldn't take a million dollars for the ones I have, but I wouldn't give a nickel for another one!"

Hopefully, those folks are not foster parents..........