If you had to pick between having a child or having a partner?

[Verynice44]

I’m not asking you to pick between your actual child or partner, as of course everyone would (or should) pick their children.
but hypothetically, if you had to pick one or other for your life, and forgo the other, which would you choose?
I would pick having a child and forgo a relationship.

edited to add- please say if you have kids when you answer or are child free

Partner. I’ve never wanted children.

A child

A partner

A partner. Complete no brainer. Never had a desire for kids.

Definitely a child! Divorced with two children

Same here

I disagree that you SHOULD OF COURSE PICK YOUR CHILDREN!

My children are adults and have their own lives now and if I had to chose right now between the kids or my partner... then I would pick my partner

A child. Happily married with kids. I find it the most challenging but enriching and incomparable experience.

Romantic love is amazing but if I had to I could get by with platonic friend and family love.

Always wanted kids.

Partner. Preferably neither though.

partner. I am currently pregnant. I love my baby and can't wait to meet him but we are one and done (dh getting vasectomy ) and before I conceived him naturally I struggled with my fertility for years and was coming to terms with being childfree in case the ivf didn't work. Baby however was conceived before I started any fertility treatments. But i can't imagine life without my partner who I have been with since age 21 so my whole adult life basically.

Ask me in 20 years time, I might say son!

Child. I would always have regretted not having children. And love them more than anyone else partners included 🫣
If it’s a choice it’s your decision but I would chose child. We can always meet new partners later, but your on a time limit for having children.

I’m not asking you to actually choose between your children and partner you have. I mean starting over and you can only pick to either have a partner or a child, not both and you can’t switch

Interesting! Good luck with your pregnancy x

Child absolutely definitely!

Child. - I have children and would have felt incomplete without them.

Definitely child for me. I always wanted children. I went through an awful lot to have children. I love them beyond measure and do not believe I could ever feel this way about another human who is not my child.

I totally agree

Children, easily.

But ask me cats bs children 😬

Child. I would've done it alone if necessary.

I love my partner, and we have a nice life, but it would be incomplete (for me) without my children.

Cats! 🐈. If the house were burning down everyone knows to save the cats above all else in our house

Child. I could manage without romantic love - there are other loves. Maybe I have found romantic love more complex.

(married with dc)

Child, though perhaps before I’d had them, I might not have realised how easily they went to the top of my list of important things.

Child. I have a rich social life with lots of love and value platonic love a lot. I could live without romantic love.

I just felt a desperate an innate desire to be a mum though. Romance is just a lovely extra in life.

After having had a baby who is the love of my life, it's even easier to say child. I'll never love anything as much as my baby girl.

Child.
I have three, and a husband.
I always knew I wanted kids and would have been devastated if it hadn't happened.

If I had neither and was starting now - partner. Simply because I don't want to bring any more kids into the world as it is now.

In reality, I have a teenager who I adore and no partner. I do think if I was making the choice a while ago I'd choose child because the love you feel for them is unlike anything else. The last decade is what has put me off having any kids. But I've been incredibly enriched by being a mother, it's the best thing I've ever done. And most of it has been done without a partner at my side.