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.

Louise IS an adult. She is nearly 19.

Of my cousins and I (8 of us)
2 have 2 children
2 have 4 children
1 has 3 children
1 has 1 child
1 had a child who died and they haven't had another nor do they plan to (but I don't count them as childfree because they didn't decide that)
1 doesn't have children and I don't think wants them - but I'm not sure if thats a conscious childfree or a 'not bothered and if I meet someone who wants a child I could be willing) - he's in his 30s

It;s not that unusual

This has made me think! Dhs family breed like rabbits - thousands of the buggers at every turn so when his one cousin (out of 15) announced she didn't want them it was note worthy.

My dads family fairly similar although in the post war generation onwards they tended to one/two kids per family only. The only two who had no kids were my cousin and my brother, both of whom would have liked them but it didn't happen.

My mums family generally dont have kids. My grandma was one of 9 and of those 9, there were only 3 kids from 2 of them. In turn those 3 only had 3 kids and those 3 only had 5 (including 2 sets of twins). So choosing not to have kids was more normal than having them.

So not surprising that a family who had siblings and cousins chose to have kids? Don't a lot of people replicate the family structure they had?

Most people want to have children.

As for the royals - they don’t have finances to consider, they have their pick of partners and great health care to help with any fertility issues.

Pretty much all the people I went to school and uni with are parents, I think I only have a couple of friends who aren’t (I’m mid forties) and that’s only been through choice in one instance. So, in my experience the vast majority of people want kids if they can.

I'd imagine what will play a part is the fact that due to their circumstances they really only can be 100% relaxed around immediate family/others in The Firm. So being in a family with cousins etc was so beneficial to them when young that they want to replicate that.

The vast majority of us have lives of our own, with freedom from press scrutiny/security risks. We don't need to rely on a tightly knit network of people who will maintain that privacy

They don't need to pay for them or even bother looking after them, they've got nannies to do all that. This will heavily skew in favour of having them as compared to normal people.

I don't get this either. The posters saying they have 45 to 50 cousins. Are these FIRST cousins? So like your brothers and sisters have 45 to 50 children between them>>>??? You'd have to have 10 siblings with 4 or 5 kids each. (Or 5 or 6 sibling with 8 or 9 kids each....) Very VERY unusual. (And pretty unlikely for the vast majority of people in the free world/western world.

I think that poster was pointing out that she’s a young woman, so not really ‘child free’ type of thing. More just ‘still a teenager so has not yet had kids.’

It didn't work out that I ever happened to successfully carry to term, but most people do have kids.

Also as PP's said, they don't have to worry about money.

And maybe there is more of a culture of continuing the family if you're a royal.

@mountainsunsets

but why though?

Cos when you think about it, parenthood especially motherhood has so little to redeem it

you have less time for yourself, less money, more stress, more hassle, more responsibility, your physical health and body may have suffers from pregnancy and birth

etc etc

when you think about it, it’s baffling as to why so many have kids

Does it matter? Whether someone chooses to have children or not is up to them.

I have 15 first cousins. My mum was 1 of 7. My dad was 1 of 3. If he was also 1 of 7, I could easily have 30.

I think having that amount of cousins is shocking really.

This - statistically, one in five people are homosexual.

Is it really any of our business? All of them have had children with someone they were married to.

I think you have to remember that a woman of childbearing age today is in only the third generation of her family to have reliable control over her fertility. The overall fertility rate is falling and I think it will become more common for adults to remain child-free in the coming decades.

When I was growing up everyone assumed they would grow up, get married and have DC's.

Most adults I know who ended up not having DC's were for reasons that aren't such problems for royals/ rich people:

Money
Not finding a DP
Infertility
Lack of access to childcare
Housing
Impact on career
General health
Lack of family support
Not wanting to give up holidays/ lifestyle

isn't their sole purpose to breed anyway?

I am 1 of 17 adult cousins out of the 17
4 has not had children
1 (my brother) he and his then partner were unable to and tried for many years.

The other 3 are younger cousins who are only in their 30s so they could still technically have children. I know one of them said he doesn't wish children due to a hereditary sickness he has. The other 2 I would actually be surprised if they didn't they are often on the floor with the younger ones.

Of the great grandchildren that are adult 3 out of 4 have had children so far

YANBU! Of 5 cousins in my generation (children 3 siblings) on my mum’s side of the family, there are 0 children. Only one is young enough and might still have kids (no idea if they want them), otherwise there’s 40 year old infertile me (not looking likely, we’re flunking IVF). Noone else wants them. So right now I am the last generation of my whole maternal line. A bit sad.

I have at least 16 first cousins (not really sure as I have an uncle who I've lost touch with but the 16 includes him having at least 2 that I know about).

My parents have 14 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren produced by 3 of their 5 children, the other 2 being child free.

Re all the cousins, fil is one of 10, mil is one of 3. All of these people have kids (although fil is nc with a portion of his family so we don't count them). Dh is one of 4, all of whom have 2 kids.

So my kids have 6 first cousins and god know how many second cousins on their dads side. They also count my cousins kids as cousins (as me and my cousin are close). Soon adds up!

15 first cousins isn't 45 to 50 cousins though it it?

^isn't 45 to 50 FIRST cousins!

It's not that uncommon, all off Dp's siblings have children