this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2024
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childfree
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When I tell people I don't want kids, the most common responses are: Won't you be lonely? Who will take care of you when you are old?
It seems like to me that a lot of people are having kids just so that somebody can take care of them when they are old. People like that are not very good parents in my experience. And so, even when they are old, their kids barely speak to them and don't take care for them, because they didn't take care of their kids.
I feel like I wouldn't be a very good parent. I value my free time too much and freedom to go whenever and wherever I want.
In China, that's exactly why most people have kids. In my experience, very few don't take care of their parents when they're older due to enormous social pressures. Like, you'd have to be an incredibly bad person to not check in on your parents when they're old. So, if they raised you well enough to survive into adulthood and you're not a sociopath, you're not going to let them starve in the street.
There's a huge diffeence between a healthy enegaged okder person and living on the street. Most aren't going to look after you and most aren't going to see you starve iwb the steeet. You'll get somethibg on between and basic care from most, it's why the kids ditch them into to aged care facilities in the developed world.