Parents hate the Childfree

Sorry OP but I agree with this poster - and I don’t mean people who are childfree and using this site - how would I know anyway! But there are some poster who go out of their way to say how much they hate children. Which is weird - people wouldn’t say they despise elderly people etc. so why is it SOME people say they hate kids?! Just odd.

But then I wouldn’t draw an unnatural conclusion that ALL childfree people hate children. Some people - in all groups - are just weird.

Hate is a strong word

however we are all guilty ( probably) of looking at someone else’s life and seeing only the good bits or only the bad bits and wanting or not wanting that

the grass isn’t always greener on the the other side

I agree. I couldn't care less if people don't have children but why would I have empathy for a child free person not wanting children in certain places.

We live in society where people are free to come and go as they please. Children have every right to be in places they are allowed to be in whether people want them there or not and I'm certainly not going to avoid taking children places in fear of upsetting someone who may not want them there. If childfree don't want to be around children either stay at home or go to the pub after 8pm when kids aren't allowed in.

They obviously don’t have horses then 😂

I don’t hate the childfree, better to be childfree than a shitty parent (there are so many of those it’s untrue). Equally, I don’t think having children makes you particularly altruistic, it’s just a choice. Not a very interesting one either.

I’m always sceptical about people who go on and on about stuff -whether it’s not liking it or liking it. Why give it so much head space?!

My childfree family and friends include:

a married couple in their 60s who have been unable to have children despite several attempts at IVF

a married woman who told me over 40 years when we were in our early 20s that she never wanted children

single men and women aged 50+ who would have liked to have children but never found the right person to have them with

single men and women in their 20s-40s who hope to have children once they have found the right person, but in the case of the older ones are starting to think it probably won’t happen

various single and married people who I don’t know well enough to know whether or not they would like to have/to have had children

couples in their 20s-30s who plan to have children together once the time is right

two young women (20s) who say they never want children.

Why would I hate any of them? The ones who don’t have children by choice are being very sensible. Why bring unwanted children into this world?

I couldn’t care less whether someone has children or not. It has nothing to do with me. I have a child and friends with loads of childfree friends

I think it’s true that we childfree people have spent a lot more time and effort thinking about the impact of children on our lives and do we really not want them, than people who had them because of biological urge.

I have met childfree people that do this. They go on and on about how great their lives are without kids

I wouldnt mind having you over for dinner then 😄

Some parents do, most parents don't - just like some people who choose to be childfree despise parents and most don't. The hate tends to be worse in echo chambers where people feed off of and spiral into more violent and dehumanizing rhetoric.

I don't think remarks about jealousy or even bitterness equate to hate. Ill-informed snap judgements, most likely, but it isn't hate, anymore than the parents I know who tell people who are considering kids to 'enjoy your money being yours/the holidays you want while you can' isn't hate against kids, even when I disagree with how they're painting parenthood.

Do you have empathy for the Childfree, that they might not want them in certain places.

I have empathy, though that's not a childfree-only desire.

I’m childfree and have never done this.

Then again, I have a yard of horses to see to twice a day, so I just have a different kind of children that still require 5am alarms and late nights and no freedom to go away or have a day out without trying to find cover for the yard.

I don't think anyone cares what others do in real life aslong as it doesn't impact them

I had my kids quite young, so I was only 45/46 when they left home, and DH was 42/43. We are now in our 50's and have a very nice lifestyle, with Adult only type holidays etc, and I've noticed that some of our friends with small kids are a bit jealous. Nothing is ever directly said, but it's obvious. I feel like reminding them that when we were in the thick of parenting young children, they were jet setting, and night clubbing till 4am!!

Oh the irony!

So, just to be clear….

If parents say anything about childfree people, they’re haters and it warrants a post to discuss how terrible parents en masse are (even though most of us give no shits whether people choose to have kids or not).

If childfree people say nasty things about children, it’s perfectly fine because other people saying things on the internet doesn’t matter.

Alright then 😂😂😂😂

If you were my friend I'd be asking advice! I have 2 friends who are respectively a teacher and child psychologist. They'd probably say I ask too much advice. Same as I annoy my pal who is a podiatrist about my feet and dental friends about my teeth. Expert advice from someone you know well is gold dust

Exactly.

It’s the lumping all in one group which those who choose to do that wouldn’t like the same thing done to them.

My well-behaved children shouldn’t be penalised due to other people’s parenting. Plus, how are they supposed to learn how to behave in public places if they’re excluded from them. No one would think someone learning to drive should only learn by simulation and practicing only in their home and then be sent out on the road.

Im childfree and ive never gotten hate.

Ive gotten hate for writing gotten on here though

This made me laugh 🤣… but for all the right reasons. It sums up the absurdity of this thread.

This!!!! Go snd enjoy your lovely life!

Why would I hate someone for not having children? How would I even know if they have children or not? Or do you think that I go around withholding my opinion on someone until I find out what their reproductive choices were? Where does it stop - do I just mildly dislike the people who couldn't have children but really really despise the people who actively chose not to have them?

All 2 of them?

No hate but I am often bemused by those childfree posters who have these lives we should be jealous of, who spend a large amount of their time posting on "mumsnet, the UK's most popular website for parents."

What places? Children are humans too, unless it’s something not appropriate for children like a bar in the evening then why shouldn’t children be there?