Stop Pressuring Married Couples To Have Babies

Things people need to stop saying to couples who are waiting to have kids

I got married very young.  We are going on 7 years now.  We don’t have children, but we do want them someday. It amazes me the things people say to me, completely out of the blue, about how I should really have kids.  We are both currently in college, we don’t have stable jobs, we keep moving around because of school, there’s no way we could handle kids right now.  We don’t even WANT them right this second.  It’s hard not having them, because I don’t really know how to hang out with anyone.  All of my married friends have kids, so they don’t want to hang out with people without kids that often because their kids get bored.  All of my single friends want to go drink and party and hook up, and somehow being married has turned us into a “let’s stay in and watch movies” kind of couple.  I hear it’s normal.  It gets lonely, though.  Anyways, here are some things to stop saying to married couples who are waiting to have kids.

“Nobody’s ever REALLY ready to have kids.”  If someone says they’re not ready to have kids, they probably have a reason. Maybe their relationship has hit a rough patch.  Having kids when your relationship is unstable has been proven again and again to be a terrible idea.  Having kids is NOT a good way to fix it.  Maybe they literally can’t pay their bills as it is.  If they can’t afford food for themselves, how are they going to feed and clothe a baby?  Maybe they are about to take in a dying relative.  You have no idea what they’re going through.  If someone isn’t ready to have kids, don’t encourage them to do it anyways.  Good for them for waiting until they can properly care for their child.

“The clock is ticking!”  NO.S**T.  Do you think they don’t know that?  Women are pretty aware of the fact that we can’t get pregnant eventually, and most of us understand that there are serious consequences of having kids later in life.  We don’t need the reminder, that’s a good way to send someone into a total panicky meltdown!

“Don’t you want your kids to have fun grandparents?”  Ummmmm so now you aren’t only pressuring them into having kids, you’re getting them all worked up about their parents inevitable death?  What is wrong with you??

“But I really wanted our kids to grow up together!”  If it was that important to you, then maybe you should have waited?  How is it their fault?  You KNEW they weren’t ready.  I hate when people use their own kids to try to pressure me into having one.  Yes, your kid is cute.  Yes, your kid is fun.  No, I’m not going to have one just because you did.

STOP pressuring married couples to get pregnant.  It’s their decision if and WHEN.