What are your thoughts on having children?

[bazera]

Hey,

I’ve just recently turned 30, and I’ve never wanted children in my life. Especially as I get older, I’m becoming more certain that it’s not something I need or want. I feel that I still have a lot to do in the areas of spirituality and survival mastery, and having a family—especially children—would be a major distraction from that. I also intuitively feel that I would regret it later in life.

The external pressure to start a family and have kids (as a kind of default life path) is also becoming increasingly annoying as I age.

What do you think? Do you yourself want or have a family or children? What do you consider a proper reason for having them, aside from pure survival? I do see it as a significant growth opportunity, but at the same time, a major distraction from consciousness work—which, if someone wants to pursue seriously, should probably make them think twice about having kids.

I’m especially interested in hearing opinions from women in this community, since culturally the pressure to have children tends to be stronger for women.