A good article. I hope things will change too, but I’m not sure that it ever really, like really, will. More conversations are happening now, though, which is great. People rarely do see the full picture, even when you (as someone who is childfree) do try and paint it for them.
Unfortunately, I’m not sure that the marathon analogy works, ie you don’t go around telling people that you’ve not run a marathon. People are HIGHLY unlikely to then berate you for not having done so. I’ve just come home from the local pub and overheard a conversation at the bar. There was a married guy in his early 60s (his wife wasn’t there). He was talking to a woman who I’d say was in her early forties. She seemed horrified that the man and his wife didn’t have children. She actually said something along the lines of “but who will look after you when you get old?”. She clearly believes that her children will be her carers when her time comes. I wonder if they’re aware of that?!
A good article. I hope things will change too, but I’m not sure that it ever really, like really, will. More conversations are happening now, though, which is great. People rarely do see the full picture, even when you (as someone who is childfree) do try and paint it for them.
Unfortunately, I’m not sure that the marathon analogy works, ie you don’t go around telling people that you’ve not run a marathon. People are HIGHLY unlikely to then berate you for not having done so. I’ve just come home from the local pub and overheard a conversation at the bar. There was a married guy in his early 60s (his wife wasn’t there). He was talking to a woman who I’d say was in her early forties. She seemed horrified that the man and his wife didn’t have children. She actually said something along the lines of “but who will look after you when you get old?”. She clearly believes that her children will be her carers when her time comes. I wonder if they’re aware of that?!