This conversation sort of came up yesterday when I was helping friends move. We're all in our late 30's to mid 40's and none of us have kids. I was the only single among 4couples, and one of the women said she sometimes feels less adult than her other brothers and sisters because she hasn't had kids, and we all agreed that there was a certain truth to that. Basically all of have made the choice for whatever reason, or it just didn't happen to not have children and we like the freedom not having children provides. There is part of me that would like to have a child, but I'm very aware that i'm not in a relationship and not likely to be in one any time soon (for a variety of reasons) and that my clock is ticking. But part of me wouldn't want to inflict myself on a child as a parent. It's only in the last 6 months or so that I've felt myself approaching anything like emotional stability, and I'm not sure that I could handle the responsibility that comes with raising a child. I aslo believe that there is a genetic component to mental illness and alcoholism so I'm not sure I want to bring a child into the world who is at higher risk of going through what I've gone through.

--splitimage