I never wanted to give up working for any reason until I was financially self-sufficient: not for a kid, nor for a man. I'm planning to depart the workplace with a healthy retirement in a couple of years.
The self-supporting philosophy dovetailed perfectly with my complete lack of desire to have a child. Working with a kid would really suck with the 'second shift" and all that bullshit. I observed many female friends and acquaintances who worked, but were married to man-children who said they wanted kyds, then didn't pull their fair share.
I was also glad that having a kid meant I was not distracted from what I needed or wanted to do, whether it was work or leisure time. When I went home at the end of the day, my time belonged to
me.
If one is looking at decades in the workforce, not having a kid comes in handy when you want to leave a dead-end job or go back to school. I made two geographic moves during my career and made lateral moves to get OJT in a field that interested me, to avoid dead end jobs, evil or incompetent managers or organizations. I also got a master's degree at night.
Because I was supporting myself only, money could be a second or third consideration. I could take lateral moves to get training in something that interested me or a pay cut to work in a better situations.
I've left organizations that were going to shit and left behind other people (90% of the time, parents) who had to earn X amount of dollars to support their wives/kyds or "had to" stay in a particular geographic area.
tldr: I agree with deegee. For some people "giving up" kyds is not a sacrifice. I thought it made my work life much better. (However, there is the documented problem of people wanting to give the CF the shaft over Breeders. I ran into that situation a few times. Sometimes I fought it and other times I just left.)