To ask those who don't have children and aren't trying, what made you come here?

[Emlou07]

After reading another thread where there are some ladies who said they don't have children, don't want them and haven't tried..

What made you come to a parenting website?

I understand those who have tried or can't have children etc. - NOT a hate thread, genuinely wondering x

I do believe there are a number of men on here as well. I have even heard rumours that there are even 19yr old guys who come on here to read the Trump threads.

Looking for house information when I was a first time buyer. It actually was a kids question (about sharing bedrooms and bedroom sizes). However there's so much more on here.

Also, my old favoured forum for covering this sort of ground had far fewer posters and hits, which is less good. Also, although it banned swearing, it had substantially more horrible people on it, including sexists and racists. I prefer to swear in good company than to hold my tongue with some real nasty cunts.

Hi OP,

I have 7 nephews/nieces and I wanted to know about the concerns parents have and the issues children commonly have.

I also write books so I’m interested in people. And I’m addicted to advice columns.

Okay, OP, I’ll bite.

I’m not a parent (though I fostered for a while), and - you might want to brace yourself - I’m not a lady, or a woman, I’m a man.

I found MN when googling for something totally unrelated, landed on AIBU and liked it so much, I decided to hang around. Of course this is a parenting site, and of course it’s predominently female. But not exclusively either, and I think it’s a site that anyone can feel a part of.

I don’t post often, and I don’t comment on parenting threads, I stick to AIBU and Chat. But I have learned a lot about various subjects, not least feminist issues and trans issues, and I can think of at least two situations where my behaviour has been changed for the better because of MN.

I occasionally question whether I should even be on MN, usually when I see a thread such as this one, but it educates and entertains me, which is why I stay.

A thread came up on Google when I was looking up something health related. I spotted some AIBUs in the 'trending' threads and quickly got hooked. As soon as I realised I wouldn't be "the only non-parent in the village", I created an account!

I had heard of MN before but assumed its content would be exclusively related to parenting, actually, aside from AIBUs and Chat, there are lots of specific topics that are relevant to me -

The Litter Tray and Dog House (dog and cat owner)
Employment Issues (work full time, would like a promotion)
Menopause (I'm in it!)
Weightloss chat (trying to lose a stone at the moment)
Style and beauty (need all the help I can get )
What we're reading (bookworm)

Probaby more, but those are the ones which leap to mind.

I have a medical condition which means pregnancy/conceiving is going to be a challenge at times, so I wanted to read up and a thread came up on Google and I kind of stayed here.

This wasn't a thread hinting that people without children shouldn't be here!

I was a nanny when I joined :)

I wondered about this at first - it would never have occurred to me to look before having my DD. In fact, "fuck off back to mumsnet" was a popular retort on a different chat forum I used (like reddit but smaller!).

Having found it, however, I totally get it. There's loads of interesting stuff on here that has nothing to do with kids. The name is misleading there!

If you think about it, in real life you don't separate the people you chat to into parents/non-parents. Most of the people I work with have children - I don't think - 'Oh, Suzie has children, so I won't bother striking up a conversation because she won't be able to talk about anything else.'

Not everything on MN is strictly for parents, lots of sections are as equally relevant for the childless

I googled something I needed an answer to and MN popped up.

I appreciate being able to look a product up and type MN at the end to get a rounded opinion on it's worth

I came on here for multiple reasons. I wasn't sure if I should reopen my application to be a foster parent or just go ahead and try to adopt (I'm still undecided).

I also look at the relationship board to share useful information with a friend who is unhappily married and planning her escape - she's too scared to access mumsnet because her husband monitors her internet viewing.

There's an interesting thread currently running in relationship's posted by a teenager having a meltdown over something she said to a boy she likes

I think you'll find everybody is on here, parents, grandparents, children, singletons, step- parents. Everybody is welcome, but occasionally a few people will sneer and snipely state that the childless people shouldn't be here!!

Sometimes I do think 'oh gosh, don't know what to say' when I post on sleeplessness threads and there are other posters who can't sleep due to poorly children.

Aside from that I like chattering away.

It is a general chat board. Yahoo answers is full of fools, pistonheads would be good but i find the interface a bit clunky!

I was doing research on forums for work and got hooked!

I have no kids of my own, never wanted any etc but I do have 2 stepkids I adore. However, I only read the AIBU section which seems to be full of non parenting related stuff anyway. Very interesting at times, other times downright crackers.

I do sometimes find that people who are parents don't think non-parents aren't allowed opinions on things relating to children. It annoys the hell out of me.

Cats for me too. The litter tray is great!

Shock horror.

Some "ladies" and even MEN!

Some people are teachers or work with children in some form and find it useful. Some don't have children of their own but are aunts or uncles or godparents and find it useful.

Some people spend most time on the non-parenting parts of the chat section which is actually far bigger than the parenting.

Those of us who are childfree often get asked this question on MN. My stock answer is usually "got fuck all to do with you"!

@ShatnersWig

And breathe...

EmLou Apologies but you'd be surprised how often I have had "why does a childfree man need to come on a website for parents?" or variants of (sometimes unpleasantly so, basically saying "fuck off, you shouldn't be here"). It doesn't take much thinking, surely, to come up with some answers as to why non-parents might come here?

@ShatnersWig

No absolutely not. I have looked at all the different topics. I have absolutely no issue with non parents or men being here. Despite popular belief, I genuinely was curious about what originally brought people here if it wasn't because of children. I like reading, I like people's opinions..

But know I know

I was searching something horse related and a thread came up. I clicked around a bit, found AIBU, laughed at a couple threads and have been here (mostly as a lurker) ever since. I never even venture into The Tack Room any more!

I loved the humour and breadth of topics. I’m also a teacher so reading things from a parent’s perspective is interesting as well.

Someone sent me a link to the penis beaker thread and it was so funny I started reading other stuff on classics and AIBU.

I can understand where your query comes from, OP. I mentioned something about MN to my (also chilfdfree) sister, and she looked at me as though I was bonkers - "MumsNet - What were you doing on MumsNet?"