Desire for Children Still Norm in U.S.

These are data from 2013.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/164618/desire-children-norm.aspx

More than nine in 10 adults say they already have children,
are planning to have children, or wish that they had had children.

It looks like the % of people who don't want chyldren remain constant:
The 5% of American adults who do not want children is virtually the same as the 4% found in 1990.

the brainwashing never ends.
how does this wash with the 70% plus that ann landers found out that these people would never have had children 'had they known'.
cop out. they knew, they all thought they'd be different.

two cents ¢¢

CERTIFIED HOSEHEAD!!!

people (especially women) do not give ONE DAMN about what they inflict on children and I defy anyone to prove me wrong

Dysfunctional relationships almost always have a child. The more dysfunctional, the more children.

The selfish wants of adults outweigh the needs of the child.

Some mistakes cannot be fixed, but some mistakes can be 'fixed'.

People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one. Leo J. Burke

Adoption agencies have strict criteria (usually). Breeders, whose combined IQ's would barely hit triple digits, have none.

Not in my home it isn't.

Quote
twocents
the brainwashing never ends.
how does this wash with the 70% plus that ann landers found out that these people would never have had children 'had they known'.
cop out. they knew, they all thought they'd be different.

I've been thinking about that lately, and it seems part of this desire for kyds is just pure conformity. Peer pressure (especially in small towns) can make you feel that you aren't one of the "normal" folks if you don't breed. It's not easy to find a group of people whose talk doesn't revolve around their kyds or grandkids. The effect, if not the intent, is to shut you out of the conversation. Gawd forbid you talk about your non-chylded interests! It's hard to talk about music or concerts when your audience doesn't give a damn.

Obviously, it's been one of those days...

It takes a child to raze a village.

Quote
mrs. chinaski
More than nine in 10 adults say they already have children,
are planning to have children, or wish that they had had children.

Meanwhile, 70% of those who already had children wish they didn't.

Quote
yurble
Meanwhile, 70% of those who already had children wish they didn't.

Seriously. All you have to do is read a couple pages in the Scarymoo confessional to see that in action.

and that was just one 'informal study'. each study coming out confirms what we think and know.
i just don't get it.
if there IS a so called biological urge to have little bastards, I'm glad I missed out on it.

two cents ¢¢

CERTIFIED HOSEHEAD!!!

people (especially women) do not give ONE DAMN about what they inflict on children and I defy anyone to prove me wrong

Dysfunctional relationships almost always have a child. The more dysfunctional, the more children.

The selfish wants of adults outweigh the needs of the child.

Some mistakes cannot be fixed, but some mistakes can be 'fixed'.

People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one. Leo J. Burke

Adoption agencies have strict criteria (usually). Breeders, whose combined IQ's would barely hit triple digits, have none.

Quote
twocents
and that was just one 'informal study'. each study coming out confirms what we think and know.
i just don't get it.
if there IS a so called biological urge to have little bastards, I'm glad I missed out on it.

There is an urge I believe in most people, to varying degrees.

For me, it's just something that would fly in the face of my own personal wisdom and decision making. No "urge" would make it a logical choice for me.

In my younger days I did want children. But I didn't want children without the benefit of a husband, imagine that.
Even though my body and my instinct was to have children in my twenties, the idea of being a single parent was absolutely horrifying to me. But because I actually have a brain, I chose to override those instinctual desires.

Now that I'm married and in my 40's and have chosen along with my husband to not have children, I laugh at all the people in my social circles who had children and got divorced and are now miserable.

To think my childfree journey started from a Free Republic post. Whodathunk?

_________________________________________________
"There's always a Plan B."
Amanda Rosewater, Defiance

Quote
the noodler
In my younger days I did want children. But I didn't want children without the benefit of a husband, imagine that.
Even though my body and my instinct was to have children in my twenties, the idea of being a single parent was absolutely horrifying to me. But because I actually have a brain, I chose to override those instinctual desires.

Now that I'm married and in my 40's and have chosen along with my husband to not have children, I laugh at all the people in my social circles who had children and got divorced and are now miserable.

To think my childfree journey started from a Free Republic post. Whodathunk?

Oh, I want to hear the story

______________________________________________________
Someday we'll look back on this moment and plow into a parked car.

Evan Davis

that is the point: we have brains: why don't the wannamoos use them.
tacit admission they have no brains?

two cents ¢¢

CERTIFIED HOSEHEAD!!!

people (especially women) do not give ONE DAMN about what they inflict on children and I defy anyone to prove me wrong

Dysfunctional relationships almost always have a child. The more dysfunctional, the more children.

The selfish wants of adults outweigh the needs of the child.

Some mistakes cannot be fixed, but some mistakes can be 'fixed'.

People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one. Leo J. Burke

Adoption agencies have strict criteria (usually). Breeders, whose combined IQ's would barely hit triple digits, have none.

Quote
pitbullgirl1965

Quote
the noodler
In my younger days I did want children. But I didn't want children without the benefit of a husband, imagine that.
Even though my body and my instinct was to have children in my twenties, the idea of being a single parent was absolutely horrifying to me. But because I actually have a brain, I chose to override those instinctual desires.

Now that I'm married and in my 40's and have chosen along with my husband to not have children, I laugh at all the people in my social circles who had children and got divorced and are now miserable.

To think my childfree journey started from a Free Republic post. Whodathunk?

Oh, I want to hear the story

Another time, like when Im on a desktop.....
I will freely admit that I was trolling the freepers for a rival site (board wars).
It was great fun!

I never got the whole "biological clock" crapola. So you might get the urge to breed at some point. That doesn't mean you have to fucking follow through with said urge. I often have the urge to reach out and punch people who are annoying me, but I don't act on that urge because whoever's face needs to be in intimate contact with my fist is not worth an assault charge. I might have the urge to binge on donuts, but I don't act on that urge because I don't need to eat an entire box of donuts.

Notice how the things I described are not actions which are vital to one's existence or are uncontrolled, such as the urge to pee. You can't control your bladder, and that urge soon becomes a need. There's the difference: the biological clock shit is only an urge. It's not something you need to respond to. That's why we have brains - to allow us to use logic and reason in order to acknowledge that we are experiencing an urge, but that we don't have to (or should not) act on it.

The definition of "urge" is "a strong desire or impulse." Desire and impulse are both words that imply wanting as opposed to needing. Therefore, this alleged urge to reproduce around the age of 30 or 35 is something that can be ignored. I think it's merely part of the average midlife crisis. Someone thinks they haven't done enough with their lives and they're scared that life is about half over and they should do something meaningful. The easiest of those things to acquire is a brat if you haven't had one by the time you hit your midlife crisis point. Meanwhile, if you bred prior to your midlife crisis, you're more likely to abandon your family, cheat on your partner and start doing crazy/risky things because you want to live a little after wasting your life raising an ungrateful little monster for ten years.

Anyway, this "study" is a big steaming load of horse shit. If more than 90 percent of people want/have kids, then why are there more childfree people now than ever before? The "can't afford kids" excuse being the main reason for not having kids is also crap. There are PLENTY of people who don't have a pot to piss in who still breed. This study is also on a site with a study called In U.S., Single-Parent Households Struggle More to Buy Food. Wow, imagine that! One-parent households have a harder time affording food than two-parent households!

I agree that peer pressure plays a huge role in people's decision to breed. I think a lot of people are, at best, uncertain about breeding. But they get knocked up in order to fit in. If there was no societal pressure to breed, I bet the birth rates would drop like a fuckin' rock. People are so ascared of being left out that they'll throw their lives away just to be in the mommy club.

"This study is also on a site with a study called In U.S., Single-Parent Households Struggle More to Buy Food.
Wow, imagine that! One-parent households have a harder time affording food than two-parent households!"
-> That's so weird. I think that one more study should be carried out to find the reasons for it :-D

"Meanwhile, if you bred prior to your midlife crisis, you're more likely to abandon your family,
cheat on your partner and start doing crazy/risky things because you want to live a little after
wasting your life raising an ungrateful little monster for ten years."
-> this statement goes really well with the other thread "beauty queen MD OD's"

The urge to procreate has never darkened my uterus. Thank God for small miracles, because it seems that people get these urges all the time, fall for them, and become saddled for life with miserable, whiny brats. No thanks.

I think a lot of it is socially-constructed roles and the pressure therein. Humans are social primates & often find comfort in being/doing things that are somewhat similar. And as was mentioned up-thread, women didn't have a hell of a lot of options for eons and eons. A lot of children suffered because of that.

I personally don't think there's a real "biological clock" at all. Remove the social pressures and roles, and you'd probably find that the mad race to breed before 35 would be far less of a thing. Interesting thing I've noticed...women's hormones begin to gradually change at the end of the 20s. It picks up speed in the 30s. Testosterone levels don't really go up, but other female hormones do drop, which makes what little effect the T has much more noticeable. Testosterone plays a major role in sex drive, so a lot of women experience an increased sex drive. So...I can't help but wonder if the "biological clock" story is actually about trying to explain away that spike in sex drive...because after all, good girls don't really want sex.