Being a woman is incredibly hard. When you get to a certain age, people start to pressure you and ask when you're going to settle down and get married. But even more importantly: when will you have children?
It seems that everyone just assumes that every woman wants to have children, just because she can have children. However, this is not always the case.
There are women who grow up knowing, from an early age, that they want to be a mother.
They have a yearning to bring children into the world and raise them into adulthood. These people know, deep down, that they truly want to have a family of their own.
There are many women in the world who know, from an early age, that they don't want to have kids.
They know from an early age that being a parent is not something that they truly want or desire.
Sure, everyone accepts the women who want to have kids. Why? Because it's expected of them.
From the beginning of time, women were put on this early to "breed" and keep the population going.
Society always gets down on women who don't want to have kids.
Before even understanding why, everyone immediately judges them as though they are selfish, self-centered, or totally insane.
Some women flat out know that they don't want to have kids because they feel they won't be good mothers.
Some women come from homes where their own parents weren't great parents and it stays with them. They don't want to "hurt" a child by not being sure.
Having and raising children is probably one of the most expensive and costly things—and not everyone realizes that.
However, there are those who do realize and know they just don't have the financial ability or stability to have and raise children.
They like the fact that they can get up and travel without having to make plans for sitters or people to watch their kids.
They can board a plane and go to Italy, or take a cruise around the Caribbean. They love being independent and free.
While some moms are working moms who can do both, there are some women who dedicate their entire lives to their jobs and have decided that they feel fulfilled by working hard and climbing up the ladder of their careers.
From personal choice to finances, to the inability to have children—there are dozens upon dozens of reasons why someone may choose not to have a child.
But, one thing is universal: a woman does not owe anyone an explanation as to why they do not have kids.
One of the worst things in the world you can possibly do is become the typical person who scrunched their nose at a "childless woman" and ask them "why they do not have kids."
Women owe no one any reasoning other than the fact that they just do not want to.
Being a mother and being a parent is a choice. As is not being a mother and not being a parent. Both are choices that are right for each individual person.
When all else fails—mind yo' business.
