From Amazon ~ A mother of two herself, Maier makes her deadly serious, if at times laugh-out-loud-funny, argument with all the unbridled force of her famously wicked intellect. In forty to-the-point, impressively erudite chapters drawing on the realms of history, child psychology, politics and the environment, Maier effortlessly skewers the idealized notion of parenthood as a natural and beautiful endeavour. Enough with this "baby-mania" that is plaguing modern society, says Maier, it's nothing but brainwashing. Are you prepared to give up your free time, dinners with friends, spontaneous romantic getaways and even the luxury of uninterrupted thought for the "vicious little dwarves" that will treat you like their servant, cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars and end up resenting you?Speaking to the still "child-free", to fellow suffering parents, and to adamant procreationists alike, No Kids is a controversial, thought-provoking and undeniably entertaining read.
Reasons to avoid having kids:
- You will lose touch with your friends
- Your sex life will be over
- Children cost a fortune
- Child-rearing is endless drudgery
- Vacations will be nightmares
- You'll lose your identity and become just "mom" or "dad"
- Your children will become mindless drones of capitalism
- The planet's already overcrowded
- Your children will inevitably disappoint you
I've always known I didn't want kids and so chose to be childfree (rather than childless).
Maier makes some great arguments to not have kids. For me, nothing about having kids appealed to me and I was never interested in it. I had no desire to go through a pregnancy and actually give birth. Plus I like my time being my own and wasn't willing to be responsible for someone else. Better to admit it and make the decision before having kids.
The book is translated from French so I found it a bit awkward at times. And there are lots and lots and lots of references to things that only someone in France or Europe would know (so there were footnotes).
It's a quick interesting read. Check it out from your library like I did rather than buy it.
3 comments:
i read about this book in the waiting room at planned parenthood! lol my girlfriend bought it and is going to let me borrow it i cant wait!
I'm child-free too! There is still a chance I may want to have children, but as it sits right now, I've weighed the pros and cons and can't do it. Some people are deeply biologically driven to procreate, but I missed that urge.
The older I get, the more relieved I am that I never had children of my own.
Stepparenting was hard enough.
If I had have added our own children to the mix, I'd probably be divorced by now.
I'm convinced that more marriages end in divorce because of the stresses of childrearing than stay together "for the children".
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