My wife and I are planning on being DWZ DINK FIRE. That's a lot of letters to say we want to retire early and not leave any money to our non-existent kids. This book is a (slightly shallow) exploration of 26 people on similar journeys. They're all American (or now living in the USA) so it has a slight bias to talking about things like 401(k) and medical bills which are absent in most other…
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Truly, men have the worse of everything…⸮ But, there's something we blokes can be grateful for. No matter what grief the world throws at us, it'll always be the women's fault that there aren't enough babies! The other day, I saw this headline: The Business Insider article - in the "Economy" section - focussed solely on the lady-folk. Why do those pesky dames refuse to procreate? About hal…
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Whenever I start up Netflix, I'm asked if I want to create an account for my children. I don't have children. I don't want children. I find most children annoying - not yours, obviously, yours are lovely. But I resent being asked every single time whether my imaginary kids want an account. It's just annoying. I can't imagine what it is like for bereaved parents who have recently lost a child. …
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One of the hardest things to do is shut up someone who is well-meaning. I have a lovely colleague who, almost every time I see him, asks if I have kids. He's not malicious, just forgetful. If I say "no", I get "Well, plenty of time yet!" or "When you do..." or "Why not?" or any number of comments. In the childfree community, we call these "bingos". Because, after a while, you start to mentally…
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I've written before about the difference between a person being childless and being childfree. It is a simple matter of intention. Those who want children but don't have them are childless - whereas those with no desire to procreate are childfree. This is quite an important distinction - and yet it is almost completely absent from the recent Office of National Statistics' report saying "one…
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You are traffic Yes, it's a marketing slogan, but I think it illustrates the way we think of ourselves. Each of us is the star of our own show. However empathetic we are, we only see through our eyes. As the world hits 7 billion people, it's time to realise that there is not "an over-population problem". Rather, "we are an over-population problem!" Each of us is contributing to…
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