A Michigan State University study finds 1 in 5 adults consciously choose not to have children, with no significant life regret reported among older child-free individuals compared to parents. This research challenges traditional perceptions of childlessness.
Probably fewer people who regret not having kids than there are people regretting having them
Maybe, but people are really good at rationalizing their decisions, so I don’t know how much that even tells us.
Any regrets I have evaporate every time I visit friends who have a kid. Something else is broken or ruined, the kid is constantly vying for attention in increasingly loud and destructive ways, and there’s always at least one shouting match before the night’s out.
That’s not even to say that I don’t like kids. I just like money, quiet, and a clean house more. Nor do I want to disparage my friends’ parenting skills, god knows it can’t be easy with both parents working FT+. But their non-working lives revolve around their kids now, and I don’t want that for myself. And on top of all that, I can’t imagine making someone else go through this shit as everything seems to be deep in the process of going straight to hell.