The fine art of being a cool aunt or uncle

"Baby Not on Board" is featured in this fun article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (August 31, 2005 byJeff Daniel) on the fine art of being a cool aunt or uncle.

He writes:
It's a role that gets a full examination and a chapter of its own in Jennifer L. Shawne's new book, "Baby not On Board: A Celebration of Life Without Kids."

Filled with humorous anecdotes, lists, quizzes and illustrations, "Baby not On Board" is, for the most part, a witty affirmation of life in a child-free-by-choice zone, that place where couples can maintain their bodies, sanity, free time - and nice furniture.

But as such couples with siblings usually come to discover, kids don't exactly disappear from the face of the Earth: They take the form of nephews and nieces. And that, explains Shawne, can often lead to child-free adults taking on the cool aunt and cool uncle role.

Childfree women considered better hires

A new study shows that employers view childfree women as more devoted to their career than mothers.

Two Cornell University researchers found that mothers were perceived as less committed to their jobs than childless women by both men and women, that mothers are less likely to be hired, and that they are offered lower salaries than childless women.

Read all about it here.

Growing number of childfree households in the U.S.

The results of the 2000 Census are in and it looks like childfree househoulds are on the rise.

This Baltimore Sun article says:
For the first time, single adults outnumber couples with children as the most common type of household in the United States, according to new figures from the 2000 Census.
In 1990, couples with children were the most prevalent family type, followed by singles, childless couples and single parents.

And:
The report, based on new tabulations of the 2000 and 1990 tallies, found that solo households grew 21 percent over the decade, while the next-largest category, married couples without children, grew by only 11 percent. As a result, couples with children - married or unmarried - now make up 31.3 percent of all homes. Individuals make up 31.6 percent.

Does having children make you age faster?

From weight gain to wrinkles to a permanently weak bladder, having kids sure can take its toll! This article from the Telegraph (Does having children make you old?) provides a laundry list of reasons, some vainglorious and some medical, why women should think twice before getting knocked up.

An excerpt:
'Make-up? That's just papering over the cracks for me, these days," complains Juliet. She is 43 but says people always assume she's over 50. She is the mother of three children aged seven, nine and 11 - and, she feels, it's taken its toll.

Are mothers like Kate Hudson the exception to the rule?
"I have permanent back pain. Four years of breast-feeding reduced my C cup to an A. It's as though they've sucked the lifeblood out of me. As the kids get bigger, I shrivel - apart from my bottom, which is big and saggy. After Daniel (number three), I developed an under-active thyroid, which means medication for the rest of my life. I've aged 20 years in the last decade. It's doubly unfair that childless friends not only get less wear and tear, but have more money and time to spend on looking good."

"Please let me be childless in peace"

Australian writer Laura Thomspon was childfree by choice, and then medical complications made it impossible for her to conceive. But she isn't complaining--about not having kids, that is. What she wishes would stop is all the pressure.

She writes:
Four gynaecologists and two operations later, I have restored health but no children, although it would be possible to risk everything and throw vast amounts of money at the problem in the hope that a miracle would ensue. This, in my opinion, would be truly insane.

Yet society seems to be telling me that this would be a normal thing to do. We all know about the lengths women go to, post-35, in order to defy the fact that they are as fertile as the Kalahari. A treatment such as IVF costs about $A6000 a cycle and, by the time a woman is 42, it has a success rate of about 5 per cent.

It is invasive, distressing and destructive. Yet it has become quite usual to seek such "treatment" because not having a baby is increasingly seen as an affliction, a curse. "God hath taken away my reproach," says Rachel in the Book of Genesis, when after a period of barrenness she finds herself pregnant. The language is different, but the sentiment is scarcely changed.

Check out the entire essay here.

Fertility Magazine launches

Fertility Today, which should really be named Infertility Magazine, announced the publication of it's first issue today. The press release describes it as " mandatory reading for men and women who want to start or expand their family through natural cycle pregnancy, adoption or medical fertility technologies."

It's mission: "to bring infertility issues out into the mainstream from behind closed doors of shame, humiliation, and embarrassment into an arena of support and candid discussion. Topics also include:preservation of fertility in cancer patients, and alternatives to childbirthlike adoption and healthy childfree living."

Hmmmm. That last bit sounds good! But the rest ... Scary!