Playing catch-up, and my f-list . .

. . . seems to have minorly exploded in a debate regarding stuff on childfree.

Now, let me make my stance clear right from the start:

Your reproductive rights are yours, and yours alone. Don't want kids? Your choice entirely. Want kids? Again, your choice.

You do not have the right to ram your choice down everyone else's throat. If you want kids, you have no right to try to bully or guilt-trip those around you into having children. Not everyone wants kids, and you know what? That's perfectly all right! Parenting has considerable cons as well as pros, and for a decent number of people, the pros simply do not outweigh the cons. Parenting means taking on a considerable responsibility, namely careing for and teaching another human being. You are in for a lot of work, most of it very messy, either emotionally or physically. Free time evaporates, as do finances.

If you don't want kids, you have no right to expect those around you to simply cease childbearing and rearing. It doesn't work that way. Babies cry. Children throw temper tantrums. Children are not pets; one cannot simply 'leave them in the car' while the parents do their shopping. Baby-sitters cost money, as do day-care centers. Yes, it's true, a lot of parents are lousy at handeling their kids in a public place, or indeed, at handeling them at all.

Public places are, however, just that: public. If you are so rabidly childfree that you don't want anyone under the age of 14 within a few feet of you, then may I kindly inform you that the rest of us have lives as well, and that you learn to deal with the fact that children have rights as well, and that you're giving the rest of the childfree community an exceedingly bad name.

And, unless some hapless moron makes the mistake of calling me a 'breeder' or a 'moo', I think that's all I really have to say on this topic. Feel free to ask me questions. They are much preferred to assumptions.