Unpopular Opinion
Welcome to the Unpopular Opinion community!
How voting works:
Vote the opposite of the norm.
If you agree that the opinion is unpopular give it an arrow up. If it's something that's widely accepted, give it an arrow down.
Guidelines:
Tag your post, if possible (not required)
- If your post is a "General" unpopular opinion, start the subject with [GENERAL].
- If it is a Lemmy-specific unpopular opinion, start it with [LEMMY].
Rules:
1. NO POLITICS
Politics is everywhere. Let's make this about [general] and [lemmy] - specific topics, and keep politics out of it.
2. Be civil.
Disagreements happen, but that doesn’t provide the right to personally attack others. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Please also refrain from gatekeeping others' opinions.
3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.
Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.
4. Shitposts and memes are allowed but...
Only until they prove to be a problem. They can and will be removed at moderator discretion.
5. No trolling.
This shouldn't need an explanation. If your post or comment is made just to get a rise with no real value, it will be removed. You do this too often, you will get a vacation to touch grass, away from this community for 1 or more days. Repeat offenses will result in a perma-ban.
Instance-wide rules always apply. https://legal.lemmy.world/tos/
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It was a flippant throwaway comment. I'm in my 40s, also married and also childless by choice. My partner and I being very similar to you.
I wasn't proving anything, just making a subtle joke about a parent effectively eliminating one of their children.
Got it, sorry I didn't not pick up on the joke. I've been accused by my parents for being selfish that I don't want kids and so I take things as "only young dumb people have these opinions" a bit too personally. Appreciate the explanation
Oh no, no need to apologise it was a pretty weak joke... But solidarity, I've had that too.
And getting asked "is everything ok?" as if we can't have kids, rather than chose not to.
And the emotional blackmail about no grandchildren.
I think it really unnerves some folk.
I stopped talking to my mother (with rare exception) due to that very emotional blackmail. Knew I didn't want kids but started hounding me about "grandbabies" when I was all of 17.
The opinion that childfree people must be young, immature, and selfish is shockingly common.
Having children is a selfish choice as well--people have them because they want them. That's selfish. It's not wrong, but it's not some altruistic deed, either.
At least society is slowly coming around to the idea that having children is a choice and not a requirement.
People with 3-4 kids regretting a couple of them is perhaps more common than you'd think. I've known people with 2 kids - like, had kids at 18 and 20 with someone they broke up with at 23 and then had to spend the next 15 years collaborating with on custody and child-rearing even though they hated each other - who would dream what their lives would be like if they hadn't decided to reproduce vs. going to college or enjoying their youth.