Childfree news roundup

First and foremost, "Baby Not on Board" is featured in this excellent article by Jennifer Scott on the decision to remain childfree, published in the Madison State Journal.

This childless trend and the debate over it are relatively new, experts said.

That's because -- compared to generations past -- today's women have many more options for birth control, said Jennifer L. Shawne, the author of "Baby Not On Board: A Celebration of Life Without Kids."

"Women nowadays have the choice whether or not to procreate," Shawne said.

Cameron Macdonald, a UW-Madison assistant professor of sociology, said there are many components that play into this cultural shift.

She cites changing demographics, including the increase in the average age at the time of marriage, the greater number of women in high-profile careers and the decrease in fertility across the board as contributing factors.
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The Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr. is at it again, preaching the gospel of procreation across the land.

Mohler warned about "huge social problems" that lie ahead in commentaries for his Web site and his denomination's Baptist Press, and in subsequent media interviews. But his major concerns lie elsewhere.

To him, raising children is both a God-given duty and "one of the most crucial opportunities for the making of saints."

Following Southern Baptist style, Mohler based his case on the Bible, saying it teaches that "marriage, sex and children are part of one package. To deny any part of this wholeness is to reject God's intention in creation -- and his mandate revealed in the Bible."

"Couples are not given the option of chosen childlessness in the biblical revelation," he contended. "To the contrary, we are commanded to receive children with joy as God's gifts."

In fact, nowhere in the Bible are couples commanded to have kids. Gifts can be received or declined, last I checked. But what really chaps BNOB's hide is how irresponsible Mohler's message is. I mean, to tell people who may not be financially, emotionally, or genetically (as in possibly passing along diseases and defects) in a good position to have kids that they have to is morally wrong in my book.
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Lastly, German is shrinking!

Germans have long had one of the lowest birth rates in the European Union at 1.3 children per woman -- far below the "replacement rate" of 2.1 needed to keep the population stable and about half the rate of 40 years ago.

Perhaps if enough childfree people flock to the country, they can replace that population.
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When are you going to have kids????

It's a nosy question and if you're like me you get tired of answering it! In a recent column, Dear Abby advises one fed-up unparent as such:
Dear Childless And Happy: There are several ways to handle questions that are nobody’s business.One is to deflect the question by asking another: “Why do you ask?” Or, “Why do you think that’s any of your business?” Alternatively, if you really want the person to back down, you can reply, “If it were any of your business, you’d already know the answer to that question. Please don’t ask me again!”
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Of course, BNOB has its own suggestions for deflecting unwanted prying into your personal life.
Question
Why don't you have any children?

Answer
Earnest: Because I don't want any!
Witty: Why don't you have any manners?
End of conversation: I'm infertile, you jerk! (Burst out crying)

Question
Are there any children on your horizon?

Answer
Earnest: Not the last time I looked.
Witty: No, but I think I spot a flock of geese.
End of conversation: not since losing my reproductive organs in a gruesome fly-fishing accident.

Question
Soooo, when do you think you'll be having kids?

Answer
Earnest: I have thought about it and have decided against it.
Witty: How about never? Is never good?
End of conversation: When minivans are sexy and daycare is free.

Question
Aren't you getting to the age when you should be thinking about kids?

Answer
Earnest: Gosh, i really don't think that's anybody's business.
Witty: No, but you're getting to the age when you should know better than to ask.
End of conversation: Actually, I'm getting to the age when my ovaries start producing half-wits.

For more quick replies for on the fly, check out the book!
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Excellent article on the childfree movement

I've read a lot of articles on the childfree movement, and Sarah Klein's "Oh (No) Baby" is one of the most thorough. The discussion that follows it is interesting too!
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Childfree news!

It's time for another round-up of good childfree stories from the recent news around the world:

This BBC article, "Childfree and cross," looks at how the growing numbers of childfree families in Europe will impact work and goverment policy:
And actively deciding to be childfree is not unusual: 28% of degree educated women currently end their reproductive lives childless.

Birth rates are declining across Europe and a 2003 survey found almost 25% of people in their late 30s did not have children.

But those who choose not to have children are becoming more and more exercised about the benefits those with families can accrue
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While the BNOB blog reported on the recent study showing parents to be more depressed than their childfree peers, I thought this Washington Post article, titled "Budles of Misery," did a fine job of putting the science into everyday terms of what it means and costs to be a parent in today's society:
But how can the findings stand? Politics, culture and history -- to say nothing of those annoying Baby Gap ads -- all reinforce the message that having children is the greatest pleasure in life.

Michael Lewis, professor of pediatrics and psychiatry and director of the Institute for the Study of Child Development at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, N.J., says that the idea of parenthood as pure joy "was always a bit of a wonderful myth." He said he's surprised the study findings were not even more negative.

Over the last 150 years, he said, children have moved from being an economic advantage to an economic burden in the United States. We used to be able to send children to work in the fields; older kids tended to the babies. When not pressed into service, they mostly stayed out of the way.

With the advent of Dr. Spock, the parenting industry, obligatory music and soccer lessons and a colossal marketplace that propels kids to desire and parents to guilt, children have become the center of the household.

Well worth reading the rest!
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BNOB recognizes that being childfree is for some a temporary state. Here's an article looking at how women are freezing their eggs in order to postpone becoming parents until after their ovaries have stopped producing champions.
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And here's one for the eco-friendly unparents out there:
Solving the Earth's environmental problems means addressing the size of its human population, says the head of the UK's Antarctic research agency.

Professor Chris Rapley argues that the current global population of six billion is unsustainably high.

Writing for the BBC News website, he says population is the "Cinderella" issue of the environmental movement.

But unless it is addressed, the welfare and quality of life of future generations will suffer, he adds.
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