Frustrated that people can't accept that my spouse and I are child free
Both my (32F)and my wife (33F) are child free. Neither of us wants to have kids, and I absolutely cannot have kids regardless. I don't have the proper ingredients and never did.
People, especially people at work, ask me when we are planning to have kids. We aren't. They suggest we adopt. WHY?! I DONT WANT CHILDREN! What part of that is unclear?!
There are so many reasons for why my wife and I don't want kids. I have SO many medical issues that I'm afraid would be passed on IF I could even contribute to the creation of a child. Furthermore, my wife and I both struggle with our mental health, and Im increasingly disabled physically. I've also raised children (not my own): my siblings since I was 8 until I was 19 and other people's children when I was forced into working as an au pair between 19 and 21.
Not that I should have to justify that to anyone. "We don't want kids." Cue the bingo responses.🙄 spare me.
I'd be a bad mom. My wife would be a bad mom. Children know when they're unwanted.
Lately, we've been getting pressure to be more involved with our nieces and nephews. Don't get me wrong, I love them. But I can't physically or mentally take them on for a full day at the zoo or museum. I can't have 3 to 10 year olds pushing me around in a wheelchair. That'd be SO unfair to them.
Or friends trying to get me to do the same for children that they've chosen to have, and have since expected us to help raise. I'm not even kidding. "You never volunteer to watch my kid", lady you've known my wife since high school. You know we don't want kids. Wtf.
And all the conversations that SOLELY revolve around these kids. This kids show, that kids show. You can't wear that around the kids, you can't let the children know that you're trans, that would confuse them. I'm SO frustrated with it. I love these kids, but they aren't mine and are NOT my or my spouses responsibility.
I want to scream! My SIL actually told me that I should work to stop being disabled (I'm paraphrasing here) so I can take at least one of her kids every week. To put it in perspective, Ive had to start using a cane or rollator for mobility and safety. I struggle staying hydrated and quickly become fatigued. She told me I needed to go to physical therapy (which I've done 3 times, btw) to get strong to not need my mobility aids so my spouse and I can take one or two of our nibblings for a sleepover every week. My BIL and SIL have 5 children. And my BIL wants another one.
THANKFULLY my wife is really supportive and agrees with me that we can't really handle that until they're at least teenagers, if then. Probably not given the trajectory of my health.
Posted May 5, 2025, 12:34 AM UTC