5 ms·
"it's incredible and more relevant to me that some stupid IT project that I'll barely remember in 10 years." You are comparing your kids to your IT projects. M
by mrits 6y ago
"it's incredible and more relevant to me that some stupid IT project that I'll barely remember in 10 years."
You are comparing your kids to your IT projects. Maybe you should instead compare it to things you really are passionate about in life. If you don't have those then it certainly makes sense how children could have easily filled that void.
- zepto 6y agoWhat examples do you have in mind?
- gumby 6y agoI think that’s the GP post’s point.
- Spooky23 6y agoA quick post doesn't capture nuance well for something like this. My peers felt alot of pressure to advance careers very quickly. Especially women. My cousin is a physician, so basically lost her 20s completely to work. Even being in a relationship almost felt irresponsible to her for a long time because of the pressures and the potential to move anywhere in the country. A good friend ended up being a high-flyer at a big consulting company -- he always wanted what was over the next hill from a career point of view, and that impacted his relationships.
- Gibbon1 6y agoYou're describing my Uncle. Went to college, got married, got the corporate job and started working his way up aggressively. And wife divorced him because he wasn't there there. All his GF's eventually went away for the same reason. He's retired now. Not really anyone spend day to day with.
- m0zg 6y agoYou got it the wrong way around IMO. It's those other things that "fill the void" from not having children. Having children, for most people, is basically the most meaningful and lasting thing they can possibly do with their lives. Nothing else is even in the same order of magnitude.
- Barrin92 6y agoI think it's deeply patronizing and bordering on armchair psychology to assert that people who fully commit themselves to something that isn't having children as just "filling the void". I've always seen it the other way around. People start families and have children prematurely because it's a trivial way to create meaning and dependency and something to fall back on. Instead of seeing other pursuits as compensation for having children I feel the family is often the compensation or a sort of insurance in contrast to doing something completely on your own, which is a much scarier thing in many ways.
- m0zg 6y ago> I think it's deeply patronizing and bordering on armchair psychology to assert The reverse assertion is even more so, IMO. It's also an evolutionary dead end. Your extensive postage stamp collection is not going to move humanity forward.
- Barrin92 6y agoas one other poster has pointed out this seems like a silly strawman. Meaningful goals involve scientific pursuits, artistic pursuits, leading organisations or being engaged in a community, not collecting postage stamps. In fact these are the things that move humanity forward, it's not reproduction that advances human culture in any meaningful way. Isaac Newton didn't have children, but of course his contribution to human society is imeasurable. Evolution of human society isn't led by biological reproduction, it's led by cultural reproduction.