How to Stop Feeling Guilty About Being Childless

So you've got a career, friends, interests and a great relationship, and can't imagine anything else you could possibly need in your life to make it complete. Ignore the constant entreaties and guilt trips by your relatives, friends and even strangers for you to get busy and become a parent. Here are some ideas to prevent yourself from feeling guilty about being childless, or child-free as some may see it.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Know that you are not being selfish. Children deserve parents who want them and want to be parents, so if you don't want to be a parent, you are saving a child from having less than he or she deserves. Also, many parents choose to have children for selfish reasons.
2. Realize that you don't owe your parents grandchildren or your siblings nieces and nephews. Your life is your own and you have the right to live it the way you want.
3. Consider that not having children is good for the planet. People in industrialized nations use a disproportionate amount of the world's resources. For example, the United States contains only five percent of the world's population but uses 25 percent of the world's energy.
4. Ask yourself if your decision not to have children ended an unhappy legacy. If your family's genetic history includes a predisposition to certain illnesses or if your family life was marred by abuse or neglect, then you have chosen not to potentially pass on these problems to another generation.
5. Understand that childless (or child-free) adults are not less happy than those with children. They do not face old age with no one to care for them; they often do quite well because they have more financial resources to draw on.
6. Remind yourself that childless couples are generally happier and enjoy greater freedom than those with children.

Tips & Warnings

• There are more ways to make the world a better place than by having children. Get involved in one of them and let everyone know that this is how you're making your contribution.
• You can have the best of both worlds by becoming a doting aunt or uncle or by becoming a trusted family friend to someone who has children.