As you slowly but surely reach the age of thirty, suddenly your Facebook news feed gets flooded with baby pics from lots of proud parents (your friends). For a lot of women, (I have not taken any unbiased sample, I am basing my perception on the behavior of my female friends) thirty is the cut-off age to have your first child.
Sounds reasonable, more so with all kinds of advertisements around you trying to sell IVF and other fertility treatments.
Now with so many women suddenly "achieving" motherhood, a handful of my friends have turned the flood-lights on us (non-kidders) with the age old question "So when are you having a baby?"
More than me my parents get asked about my prospective reproduction! All loving uncles and aunts and the ever friendly neighbors, have moved on from " How much did she score?" and "When will she get married?" to this new question about my personal life, which as it happens is none of there business.
But when did that ever hold them back?
I am not bothered by the queries, what slightly irks me is that people don't seem to understand yet that having a baby is not mandatory. A lot of people bow to societal and peer pressure and join the bandwagon of parents quite clueless, yet proud.
You MAY, I repeat you definitely may choose not to have a progeny.
It is an option. You can make that choice.
And a significant number of people are making that choice these days...for a lot of reasons.
It may be a financial consideration, schooling these days is very expensive. Maybe they don't feel the need to have a baby. Or maybe they feel given the way humans are polluting and wasting resources the next generation will have a very hard time and hence they want not to add to that number. Or maybe they feel they won't make great parents...no not all people who give birth make great parents. I respect those who realize the humongous responsibility it is to raise another human being and are brave enough to accept that they might not be up for it.
A few years back my bunch of friends were being sold the idea of marriage by "society". Get married to the right person by all means but there is absolutely no need to be pressured into it.
I know happy people, doing great in their personal and professional lives who are single.
Same holds true for babies...you can have a successful life and a happy marriage with and without "bundles of joy". So say goodbye to those silly pressures you are putting on yourselves, in case you are.
Have a great life!!!
But when did that ever hold them back?
I am not bothered by the queries, what slightly irks me is that people don't seem to understand yet that having a baby is not mandatory. A lot of people bow to societal and peer pressure and join the bandwagon of parents quite clueless, yet proud.
You MAY, I repeat you definitely may choose not to have a progeny.
It is an option. You can make that choice.
And a significant number of people are making that choice these days...for a lot of reasons.
It may be a financial consideration, schooling these days is very expensive. Maybe they don't feel the need to have a baby. Or maybe they feel given the way humans are polluting and wasting resources the next generation will have a very hard time and hence they want not to add to that number. Or maybe they feel they won't make great parents...no not all people who give birth make great parents. I respect those who realize the humongous responsibility it is to raise another human being and are brave enough to accept that they might not be up for it.
A few years back my bunch of friends were being sold the idea of marriage by "society". Get married to the right person by all means but there is absolutely no need to be pressured into it.
I know happy people, doing great in their personal and professional lives who are single.
Same holds true for babies...you can have a successful life and a happy marriage with and without "bundles of joy". So say goodbye to those silly pressures you are putting on yourselves, in case you are.
Have a great life!!!
