Ten reasons I’m deeply grateful that I am not raising living children in these times (some more banal than others).
1. I never have to worry about feeling envious of my offspring.
2. I am a little less freaked out about the future because I do not have any direct descendants who have to navigate this fucksow of late-stage capitalism and the collapse of modernity. (This does not mean that I am not worried for my friends’ kids and my nephew. I am.)
3. I am not faced with the dilemma of whether or not to send my kids to school.
4. I do not have to be concerned about whether or not I’m directly passing on my own unhealthy bullshit to another human being (which happens whether parents are aware of it or not… I don’t think there’s anything “wrong” with this).
5. I don’t have to pick up toys every single day.
6. Travel is easier and cheaper.
7. I never have to think to myself in an angsty way: why is my kid doing / acting / thinking in this way or that way?
8. I don’t have to worry about whether or not I am projecting my own ideas of wellbeing and health onto my children.
9. I never have to be concerned with whether or not it was a good idea to bring babies into the world during apocalyptic times.
10. I am old and oh-so-tired. If I had a living kiddo I would be evermore so. Honestly, I don’t know how I would survive.
In the Name of Rafa 