Ugly babies

I don't want children. No, I really don't.

I don't coo over babies, I haven't dreamt of the perfect wedding since I was nine, I don't want to be pregnant, I don't want to host a three year old's birthday party, and I don't want to spend hours talking about how to burp and the colour of poop.

I'm well aware that there are rewarding facets of parenthood, and I am also aware that those facets aren't enough to change my mind. I am at peace with this, and perfectly happy. So why aren't other people?

People react in ways I consider strange when they discover that I don't want to have children. Women seem (for the most part) to be either jealous of my firm resolve, or condescending, as if they believe I'm going to have a few more periods and then suddenly change my mind. Also, my lack of desire to reproduce offends some who discover it. It actually offends them. And I don't know why.

I have always believed, perhaps self-indulgently, that I know myself well enough to realise I would be a good mother, but I just really don't want to be one. Sometimes I feel less feminine, or I become an outsider when other young women start to talk about wanting a family. But I know who I am, and I know for certain that I don't want to be a mother.

I don't understand how this makes me selfish, and those who accuse me of this vice never give me a satisfactory explanation. We are not cavemen. Our species is not about to die out. I don't need to have children to continue the species, and since I have no emotional need for children, I see no point in having them at all.

I just don't understand why this bothers people so much. People can get surprisingly close-minded when it comes to reproduction.

Okay, that's the end of my little rant about breeding.