We are child-free in our late 30s. We didn't lose friends, but hanging out with the ones that had kids became more challenging as did our ability to relate to t

We are child-free in our late 30s. We didn't lose friends, but hanging out with the ones that had kids became more challenging as did our ability to relate to things. Not impossible, just more challenging. Here's an everyday example. We can decide to randomly go somewhere for drinks and food on a weeknight. Parents need to do major coordination to make this work if they wanted to join (in most cases, you can forget it if there isn't a sitter). Unless they want to bring the kid, which changes everything about our plans: the time we leave, the place we go to, how long we can stay at that place, etc. This isn't bad, and sometimes we can accommodate, but if we just want to low-key get a drink and maybe some food at our local bar, this would likely become a weekend get-together. Given that we both usually have things going on during the weekend, it can be a few weeks or months before we're able to finally hang. There's also a suite of stuff that parents deal with that us child-free folks don't. Picking a good school (and a house within that school district, usually out in the burbs, because school districts in most cities are underfunded and struggling to perform). Crushing daycare costs. Getting sick every month because of said daycare. Kids shows. Screens vs no screens. Tons of everyday things that every parent deals with that we have zero experience to. We can listen, sure, but it is easier to maintain experiences with people who "get it." We do get to be the fun friends/family that spoils them when they grow up though. That's been a lot of fun!