I have three children of my own, two step children, and two step-grandchildren. Live is busy, full of love, but not always peachy. I have several people in my life who are childless, some by choice, some by design. I find that I have to tread very lightly when in conversation with a couple of them. My cousin, who wants a child more than anything in this world, is married to a man who does not want another child. He has a child from his first marriage that he has absolutely nothing to do with. I only speak to her about my children if she specifically asks about them. You can hear in her voice and see in her expression that it hurts her to hear about them. My next door neighbor has no children because she could never get pregnant. She is now in her sixties, yet still longs to have a child of her own. I have to tread lightly with her as well. I do know several people who have always said they don't want any children of their own. I don't tread lightly with them at all. As a matter of fact, my family is usually the first thing they ask me about. Whether they do that to get the inevitable conversation about my family out of the way first so we can move on to other topics, or if it is their acknowledgment of what is most important to my world, I don't know. I know that we have many other interests in common. I love living vicariously through them and their travels, and they enjoy hearing about the exploits of our family and some of the craziness that makes up my life. I think the one thing that makes the most difference is that they truly love me, and I truly love them, so there is never an awkward moment between us.
I don't judge people who don't want to have children of their own, but I know plenty of people who do. These are the same people who would make a good candidate to be a Stepford wife. I think that we all live in constant judgment by others. I get it a lot because I don't drive a brand-new car, build a new house, or go shopping all the time. My house does not remain so spotless that you could eat off of any surface, and it is not decorated like the cover of a magazine. When you step in my home, you see evidence of the life we live throughout our home.
I have to say though, I can see in some people what was said about some parents being uninteresting. You can only hear so much about the color of a baby's poop without going a little nuts, even if you do have kids of your own. Some people go overboard, but that is true about some people of any "group" be it parents, pet owners, snorkelers, etc.
