The Kids or Childfree Podcast | Episode 14: Kate Kaufmann on Being an Unabashed Childfree Elder

[@kittychi999]

Made a similar decision...at age 10 my mother left so I was the oldest of 4, already having changed more diapers than my mother on the young ones. Then dad remarried 1.5 years later and I then became the oldest of 2 more, 6 total. Saw only the drudgeries and hardship of having kids and not the reward so I do think that is why I never ever felt compelled to have any of my own. Briefly at age 32 I dated someone I would have had children with, but that didn't last and no one filled the bill again during my child bearing years. Age 73 now and though I do not regret not having children, I do experience a huge difference in how secure I feel in general since I don't have kids looking in on me and making sure I am okay. On the other hand, this may be a factor in why I do all I can to stay healthy, including mentally healthy. Still...at age 90 I will not have kids around to empty out an apartment after I die. These are the kinds of things I think about now.

[@HowlingFantods]

The "childless and childfree demographic" is such a fascinating demographic. It will be gone in a generation, axiomatically. Men, throughout history, have had to compete against each other in a rather cut-throat fashion to get the opportunity to reproduce. Roughly 40% of men reproduced vs 80% of women, historically. These men who never were able to pass on their genes have effectively been eliminated from the story of human history. This new demographic of women who are voluntarily taking themselves out of the reproductive pool are probably a new phenomenon in all of human history and will change the way the human species develops into the future.