Check out a very interesting article in The Times of India. It discusses the rising population of childless by choice couples in India. “Time was when having a kid – or three – was the norm. And a childless couple, a rarity. If at all there was a pair that didn’t have a kid, friends and family were sure there was, ‘some problem.’ Not anymore. In the new India, people are childless by choice. And the stigma attached to the concept is slowly wearing off.”
The article tells us about Anish and Monisha Palshekar, who decided they do not want to have children. Like a lot of childfree, it does not mean they do not like children. For many years Anish has taught street children, and Monisha has worked with women and children in India’s hinterland.
Then there is 45 year old scientist Dipshita Singh, who ..
..does not want to bring children into a world that will be tough for children, and the fact that she holds a broader view of family beyond “nuclear” – she sees family as about her husband and parents and his and our brothers and sisters, and their children too. Dipshita ”points to children running around naked in the slums and says, ‘When you don’t have your own children, you feel every child is yours. It’s not something I want to say so I sound good. But my husband and I have been able to reach out to a lot of children.’ For the Singh’s, opting to not have children was a decision taken jointly after they realized that there were too many conflicts one had to tackle in life. ‘We didn’t want someone to come into this world to live that tough life.’ ”
Other childfree in India feel similarly. They feel “the world is just not worthwhile place to bring someone into it. Some state that their own childhood was no fairy tale.”
Do you see any trends in other countries?
