To ask why all of the Queen's adult grandchildren have chosen to have kids?

[itsbeen4minutes]

Out of the Queen's 6 adult grandchildren, all of them have had children. AIBU to ask whether this is normal in terms of pretty every member of a family having chosen to have kids?

I have chosen to not have children so feel like if I was a member of the royal family I would be judged quite a bit on my choice to remain childfree.

For 3 generations of my family on both sides have all had children. My nana was an only child, she went on to have 4 children who had 1, 2, 2, 4children respectively, then all us grandchildren have had children. 1 has had 1 child, 4 have had 2children and the final 4 of us had 3 children. My other side are even more prolific. However I do know/have friends who have chosen not to have any children or are unable to conceive. It's all down to personal choice/circumstance.

Its the same with only children. I grew up thinking having an only child is very natural because of all the heroines who were only children- Hermione Granger from Harry Potter, Charlie from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Belle and several other disney princesses. But actually, statistically, they are much less common. And people who want an only child like me--- well I only meet them online.

Loads of money, no need to have an actual job, limitless property. They aren't exactly worried about paying their bills, we do it for them!

I honestly don't know anyone in my family who hasnt had children and I've gone back in my family tree far and wide on both sides

YABU - I think the majority of adults have children if they are able to.
Looking at my extended family, everyone of my generation (cousins & 2nd cousins) has kids apart from two of them (from about 16 of us) - one whose wife has genetic health issue which might be passed on and another who tried to have a baby though IVF but it didn't work out.
Remember, even m if the royals need IVF it's likely to be easier to come by for wealthy people with private health care. My cousin would have had more cycles if she could have afforded it.

@ILoveShula who?

Wow! some of you come from big families.
My mum had one sibling, and my dad had two. DH and I each have one sibling, I ended up with 5 cousins. DD also has 5 cousins.

My maternal grandparents had 13 grandkids.
Of the 13 only 5 don't have kids.
Of those 5, 2 are waiting til they get married (both this year)
Two are in fairly new relationships (in their mid 20s) So not thinking kids just yet.
And one is a perennial singleton who is career obsessed.
This seems pretty typical of other people I know as well numbers wise.

A lot of people don't have children, or as many children, because it's enormously expensive and relentlessly hard work. And if you are as rich as they are (sure, they don't all have state subsidy, but they do all have seriously sized inheritances, access to opportunity, and housing options which in turn make nannies - who might well work for lower rates for the CV enhancement later - possible).

They don't have the career, social or simple activity-based limitations children impose, they don't have the tough financial choices children impose, and they can enjoy the fun parts without having to wake up night after night through the night to care for a distressed child, and then get up and work hard all day, too.

Some people would still not want kids, even if they didn't have the massive weight of practical and financial responsibility, and the career and freedom hits. But I suspect the number would be a lot fewer if nannies and well-padded bank accounts could take a lot of the strain.

Because they wanted them?

I have 17 cousins and one sibling. Sibling is childless not through choice and only one cousin has decided to not have kids, and he is a self centrered narcissist who I think we are all glad is not inflicting himself on the next generation. His wife we all feel sorry for but at least she has a choice to be with him, a child would not.

I'm childfree, I can think of 2 close friends, a few work colleagues, some of DPs adult cousins who have got to at least mid 30s without having children, and that's just the women.

If about 20% of women don't have children, it's not very very unusual but also not unusual for them all to have them in a small sample size like the Queen's grandchildren.

Anyway, who knows if they've chosen to have them? We know how common MN thinks contraceptive failures are. According to MN statistics, about a third of them would be happy accidents.

Why wouldn’t they?
They don’t have any money worries.
They don’t need to worry about affording a home and somewhere big enough.
They don’t have to worry about losing their home if they lose their job/income.
They don’t need to worry about looking after their child/children if they find it hard or simply don’t enjoy it. They recruit live in round the clock nannies.

Given all of the above I think most people would have children.

Talk about inventing problems.

Maybe just because they want to, why do you even care. No one cares if you don't have kids I'm sure as it's there choice so who cares if they do? Their choice. What a pointless post for a parenting advice forum 🙄

I think statistically your example doesn’t stack up

I'm 1 of 3. All late 30s. My siblings don't want kids. I do. I find 2/3 quite high to be honest.

mid 30s is not really an indication they would be child free. Meghan markle had her first at 37 and now has two children. I have 2-3 cousins in mid 30s but I am 100% sure that barring infertility, they would be parents. People in big cities often have a different timeline .

none of them pay a mortgage or have to work. They can afford the best medical care / ivf / birth experience and the best schools plus a nanny. They are in a much better position then a ‘normal person’ to have a child.

I don't find it unusual at all. I'm in my early 60s. My sibling and all four of our first cousins are all over 55 so we've completed our families. We've all had children. The only child had one child. I have two. My sibling has three. The cousins from the family of three have had (respectively) two, one and four children. Fairly normal, surely?

Same for my husband's family. He and all his cousins had children. (All well over 60 now.)

Maybe it's different for younger generations. At present, I have no expectation of grandchildren.

What's with all the cousins??? I have 2. Well I had three but he died when little.

It's not really a social construct that "women have children" more biology... And humans, like all animals, have a natural instinct to procreate in order to continue the species.

@drpet49 - this may be very unusual but a friend of mine in a heterosexual couple ( relevant only that the easiest way of having children ) has chosen not to. Neither of them dislike children & she has helped out nieces and nephews with university etc but both of them would rather help out relative's children rather than having some of their own.

I have 2 brothers and my DP has a sister. Both my brothers and his sister have chosen not to have kids, so our 2 DC are the only children in both our families. We’re all late 30’s/early 40’s.

yep