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“Susan Said She Hopes I Get Hit By A Car?”: Discussion Ensues After Woman Shares How Being The Only Single Childless Person At Work Is Wild
In the old days, there was a tradition in many countries, and even an official rule, that after reaching a certain age, people who did not start a family or have children were subject to a special tax or paid fines. Today, our society has come very far from such views, and sometimes family people envy their single friends.
Of course, we in no way want to say that family and children are bad. On the contrary, it’s amazing, but let’s admit to ourselves – can any mother or father say they’ve never dreamed for a moment of returning to their childless days for at least a couple of hours? They definitely have.
Just recently, blogger McErin wrote a tweet that literally confirms what we have already said. The woman is the only one in her office who is not married and has no children, and when colleagues discussed a bunch of family matters over the past weekend, she simply told them that she went to the farmers market… and that’s it. As the original poster wrote, after her words, three of her coworkers gasped and one even cried…
The tweet almost immediately went viral, with 212.5K likes and 10.1K retweets so far. And, well, almost a thousand people decided to share similar stories from their own experience.
More info: Twitter
Image credits: Roger Mommaerts (not the actual photo)
RELATED:
The Original Poster told her colleagues how easy it is to spend the weekend being childless, which caused a dramatic reaction
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Scientists say that there are three major benefits of being childless
In her article “Advantages and Disadvantages of Being Childfree” on the Psychology Today website, Ph.D. Ellen Walker lists three major benefits of being childless. First, you have time for self-care and for other relationships. Second, you can dedicate your time to your career or to other interests that will help the world as a whole.
Finally, the world will be less crowded and resources less depleted. However, this position also has it’s own disadvantages – it’s just that at certain moments, the benefits are more noticeable.
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Image credits: colleen_eileen
The OP states that her initial tweet is nothing more than an attempt to perceive the situation with humor
By the way, the Original Poster herself noted that her initial tweet should be taken as nothing more than an attempt to perceive the situation with humor. The fact is that, as is often the case on the internet, a heated argument broke out in the comments between staunch childfree people and adherents of traditional family values.
Image credits: Marco Zanferrari (not the actual photo)
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Image credits: BrendaGlasser
Image credits: karen_eggleson
In fact, each position in this discussion is worth respect – as long as it is spoken politely
In fact, the most important thing here is to have respect for those who one position or another, and try not to judge people simply because their lifestyle or beliefs do not match yours. As one of the author’s comments wrote, “I like that I have a family, but I totally respect those who do not want to have children.”
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The childfree position is sometimes still heavily criticized by relatives and friends
Leslie-Ashburn Nardo, a psychology professor at Indiana University, co-wrote an academic study on this very topic. “Relative to targets who had chosen to have two children, voluntarily childfree women and men were penalized by perceivers,” says professor Nardo.
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“Specifically, they were perceived as leading less fulfilling lives than do people who had chosen to have children,” notes Nardo. “Moreover, their decision to forgo parenthood, arguably individuals’ most personal choice, evoked moral outrage – anger, disgust, and disapproval.” Actually, it is believed that parents’ attempts to self-realize through their own children harm not only the kids, but also the parents themselves.
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By the way, sometimes it happens that people who decide not to have children become active pet lovers, and even replace parenthood with them. Sometimes this leads to funny situations – for example, as with this dog mom, the heroine of this post on Bored Panda. And we, as usual, highly appreciate your comments and our own stories on this topic.
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What do you think ?
Ellie McGrath 2 years ago
Are these the same one that expect child free people at work to cancel their own vacations and think they are entitled to our vacation days before us? Simply put: Your inability to operate birth control is not every else’s problem.
CeeJay 2 years ago
I would never expect childless colleagues to give me a day off. You work with the wrong people.
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C W 2 years ago
I don’t understand why people are talking about the childless as inferior. I tried for 15 years and I wasn’t able to have children. It was very painful and I’m really sick of having to explain to people why we don’t have children. It’s cruel in reality! And please don’t respond with how we should do foster care or adoption. I grew up in foster care. We know our options and we are taking the appropriate steps.
Boris Long-Johnson 2 years ago
I’m sorry you’re having to deal with that. Me and my partner agreed pretty much on day 1 neither of us wanted kids and we’ve been immensely lucky our family haven’t tried to force the issue. That being said within our wider community we’ve definitely noticed we’re regarded as “odd” and myself (male) even potentially slightly sinister for not having kids. After all if a guy doesn’t want kids there must be something questionable about him (implying some form of sexual deviancy etc) - certainly according to one woman decided never to speak to again…
Load More Replies...
BadCat 2 years ago (edited)
Everyone has different lives, different levels of energy, different ideas of what's enjoyable. Doesn't matter if you have kids or not. No one's life is better than everyone else just because they have or don't have kids. Besides, kids grow up. By the times they're old enough to have some skills in the kitchen to feed themselves and go off with their friends parents can take a lot of rest time. The only time I cried at work thinking about being a parent was guilt for being at work and not spending time with my daughter, and taking her to the events I would see other parents taking their kids to on my break time. Perhaps the parents the OP mentioned were upset in a similar way. Then again, it appears to be a tweet trying to be funny.
Zobi123 2 years ago
But also, people are in different stages of life. Many childless people complaining about parents will some day have their own small children. Or they are people with grown children who no longer have sympathy for parents.
Load More Replies... Ellie McGrath 2 years ago
Are these the same one that expect child free people at work to cancel their own vacations and think they are entitled to our vacation days before us? Simply put: Your inability to operate birth control is not every else’s problem.
CeeJay 2 years ago
I would never expect childless colleagues to give me a day off. You work with the wrong people.
Load More Replies... C W 2 years ago
I don’t understand why people are talking about the childless as inferior. I tried for 15 years and I wasn’t able to have children. It was very painful and I’m really sick of having to explain to people why we don’t have children. It’s cruel in reality! And please don’t respond with how we should do foster care or adoption. I grew up in foster care. We know our options and we are taking the appropriate steps.
Boris Long-Johnson 2 years ago
I’m sorry you’re having to deal with that. Me and my partner agreed pretty much on day 1 neither of us wanted kids and we’ve been immensely lucky our family haven’t tried to force the issue. That being said within our wider community we’ve definitely noticed we’re regarded as “odd” and myself (male) even potentially slightly sinister for not having kids. After all if a guy doesn’t want kids there must be something questionable about him (implying some form of sexual deviancy etc) - certainly according to one woman decided never to speak to again…
Load More Replies... BadCat 2 years ago (edited)
Everyone has different lives, different levels of energy, different ideas of what's enjoyable. Doesn't matter if you have kids or not. No one's life is better than everyone else just because they have or don't have kids. Besides, kids grow up. By the times they're old enough to have some skills in the kitchen to feed themselves and go off with their friends parents can take a lot of rest time. The only time I cried at work thinking about being a parent was guilt for being at work and not spending time with my daughter, and taking her to the events I would see other parents taking their kids to on my break time. Perhaps the parents the OP mentioned were upset in a similar way. Then again, it appears to be a tweet trying to be funny.
Zobi123 2 years ago
But also, people are in different stages of life. Many childless people complaining about parents will some day have their own small children. Or they are people with grown children who no longer have sympathy for parents.
Load More Replies... Related on Bored Panda
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