If you are in your 40s/50s with no children…

[AnaViaSalamanca]

What is your life like? How do you spend the bulk of your free time?

Mid/late 30s here. Most friends have kids or are trying for. I have no desire. In fact the thought of having children makes me anxious but wondering about the alternative

I think people are referring to very young children, babies, toddlers. Those years can be b**y backbreaking hard work .
But my 14 year old is happily reading in our caravan whilst we sit in the awning of our caravan perusing the internet. DS1 (18) decided to stay at home. Neither were much trouble from about 6 or 7 onwards.

@KidneyBeans

Sorry I don’t mean to be inconsiderate here. I guess it’s just that some people might be on the fence about having children because they get a lot of bad press. And so it’s also worth sharing positive stories as well. You can have free time, you can be yourself. Those baby years pass in a flash

@KidneyBeans it's a parenting site

@Handsoffstrikesagain

I think the issue is polka is that some posters without children make comments and statements that simply aren’t true or recognisable to a lot of us that are parents and that can give a skewed view of what parenting can be like to others reading this and considering whether or not they’d like children.

I'd be worried if anyone made a decision based on mumsnet! OP has made hers and was asking about an aspect of it, not to be convinced otherwise. I suppose the opposite would be someone posting saying about their child and people going well you shouldn't have had them haha.

Can spend the weekend doing tons or doing nothing (we'll catch up on Netflix). I will probably play an Xbox game today.

I also will do a masters course from September as I am interested in the topic. Paid for by savings.

It's generally a pretty chilled carefree life. Just pressing ourselves mostly.

@Handsoffstrikesagain

It’s not that people make a decision purely based on MN polka, but opinions do matter to some on here, particularly those that cannot relate in RL for whatever reason.

But op doesn't want children, if you can't see how posting about them is annoying and unwarranted on a thread then that's worrying. There are literally no threads for those who wish to discuss something about being childfree without posts about how wonderful children are; like in real life I suppose where some cannot comprehend that not all women aspire to be mothers.

[quote Effybriest]@KidneyBeans it's a parenting site [/quote]
Yes. But not every discussion is a parenting discussion.
Is that not blindingly obvious?
Or do you discuss your parenting experiences in the DIY and litter tray threads too?

I find it weird that there are a subsection of parents on MN who are so uncomfortable with childfree discussion threads that they have to derail them by talking about their parenting experience.
It's weird

@Handsoffstrikesagain

It wasn’t OP I was referring to polka, I was responding to the untrue statements on here. It’s a discussion and I feel it’s ok to do that.

True, trying to argue against other womens valid experiences or thoughts on the matter. Its just boring that's all.

[quote Topia]@KidneyBeans

Sorry I don’t mean to be inconsiderate here. I guess it’s just that some people might be on the fence about having children because they get a lot of bad press. And so it’s also worth sharing positive stories as well. You can have free time, you can be yourself. Those baby years pass in a flash[/quote]
Fair enough, If this was a thread about deciding whether or not to have kids and weigh up those decisions
But it's not.

@Handsoffstrikesagain

I think the issue is polka is that some posters without children make comments and statements that simply aren’t true or recognisable to a lot of us that are parents and that can give a skewed view of what parenting can be like to others reading this and considering whether or not they’d like children.

Exactly

Doesn't money cone into this a lot.

If you have a rich partner and kids but don't work, then probably life isn't much different to a child free couple. Lots of time to do your own thing?

Or if you are working in a high flying career with a nanny then you can still have a jetset lifestyle.

Are there stats on salaries of mothers versus women without kids? At nearly 50 most women without kids I know of same age are in senior positions after 30 years of work. Maybe not high flying professionals but worked their way up. So not so much money worries which generally helps most people have a less stressful life.

@Handsoffstrikesagain

polka you say it’s a woman’s experience but I don’t see how the poster in question can pertain to have that experience of having children when she’s actually childfree.

She's asking for opinions from those who are also childfree though, not those with children, best to leave it as not sure how much simpler it could be.

This is a parenting site
Dominated by parents
Start a thread n chat on a parenting site, which is totally your prerogative
Expect response from parents

I suggest you start a site for child free people if you’d rather reduce the number of posts from parents

@Handsoffstrikesagain

I am not saying life with 4 DC under 6 is easy just trying to give another perspective that you can go out, can have great holidays, drive nice cars etc even with children. It’s not all doom, gloom and drudgery. Sure there’s tears, tantrums, sleepless nights, nappies and bottles but that’s such a short space of time in the grand scheme of things.

The thread title is literally 'if you're in your 40s/50s with no children'