Redditor Celestialsmoothie28 wanted to discuss why many of us don't want to bring a new generation into the world, so they asked:
"People who don't want kids, why?"
I will never have kids. You're all welcome.
Who Cares?
Season 4 No GIF by The OfficeGiphy"Why would I want kids? Personally, I can’t think of a single compelling reason to have them. Kids deserve a parent who wants them, not someone who just tolerates them."
Worried-Medicine-664
“test out”
"Kids are a lifelong commitment to raise and care for another human, and I don’t think I’m capable of handling that. I like kids, but I don’t think I could raise one well, so I’m not going to try."
boymanpal
"Agreed. Every child deserves a parent, but not every parent deserves a child. For those who think 'if you never try you never know”' are just plain selfish. So you’re gonna bring a kid to this world just to 'test out' if you can be a good parent?"
"You should know yourself better than anyone beforehand, whether you can be a good parent. I certainly not gonna use a person’s life for my own amusement since I know I wouldn’t be able to give the best to the child."
pronocturnalfreak
Learn Sooner
"I grew up with a brother 10 years younger than i am. Went from changing his diapers to teaching him how to mod Minecraft."
"Left to go to college. I call him nearly every night, and we still watch anime an play video games together through discord calls."
"I already had my kid. He's called my little brother. Just wish I understood my family's financial situation sooner."
oxidezblood
Be Prepared
be prepared the lion king GIFGiphy"As a parent, I always tell people that wanting the responsibility is the most important part. My baby daddy and I separated, but we co-parent so well, people are always shocked. We work together well because we both know we planned to have a child and raise her together, despite the status of our personal relationship."
kailsbabbydaddy
The responsibility! The biggest lesson of all.
My Life... My Rules
freedom GIFGiphy"I enjoy freedom, I enjoy my relationship exactly as it is, I have a major fear of being pregnant, I like having money. Oh and I don’t like babies or kids. The reasons are endless."
Feeling_Ad_2354
Issues of a Saint
"I struggle with anxiety and anger issues and I wouldn’t want to pass that on to my child or have them have to grow up dealing with my anxieties and anger episodes. I just couldn’t do it and it wouldn’t be fair to them. Plus it’s real expensive. I’d rather have a life of peace and quiet and travel to figure myself out. To the moms: you guys are tough saints."
shoppingforthemoon
Stability Fail
"I have back and hip issues that would have made carrying a child (and then also literally carrying a child) difficult. I like my free time and expendable income. I didn't feel like I was in a stable enough place financially, wasn't with the right partner at the right time, never had baby fever."
"I look around at the world, and have no desire to bring another life into this s**t show."
wirwarennamenlos
Today's Drama
"In this economy?"
besameput0
"I'd also like to add. Into this world? Our age pyramid is upside down. Only way to fix to is either by overpopulation, or bracing for difficult times for a while until it fixes itself."
"It isn't like I dislike children, at work I love to take care of them. But I don't have the heart to bring in any more. Otherwise, if my life situation would be better, I would totally love to foster or adopt. There are so many children who don't get parents."
Valtremors
Just... WHY?!
Why Me Crying GIF by Team CocoGiphy"Why would I want one? I get that it is the social default, but in a vacuum it sounds terrible. I barely feel like I have my sh*t together, and I never feel like I have enough time to do the things I want to do."
"Why would I want to give up on my free time entirely to raise a kid? Children are fine in small doses, but they are exhausting, stressful and the benefits seem minimal. I guess the biological drive skipped me."
notaninjashhhhh
Not everybody is meant to be a parent.
Know your truth.
For some odd reason I love the things burning. Anything, food, pots, pans. You name it. Weird.
Blow
fire burning GIFGiphy"Matches/candles on a birthday cake. I remember lighting matches as a kid purely to blow them out and inhale that sweet match-y smell."
semispooked
"guilty good"
"I work at a Chemical plant. We make a highly acidic product that is dark blue, viscus, highly corrosive, and smells exactly like Fruit Loops. It is incredibly disturbing."
Turin082
"Organic chemistry has many 'guilty good' smells. Thiophosgene (sulfur derivative of a chemical weapon used extensively in WW1) apparently smells like meat. Phosgene is used to make polycarbonate, thiophosgene is used to make some sulfur-containing molecules which eventually end up in therapeutic drugs."
HammerTh_1701
I can't huff it...
"Paint, specifically house paint. I love the smell. But anytime I hear that anyone is painting a room or their house, I volunteer. I just love sitting on the floor in a room that's been freshly painted, closing my eyes and just inhaling that slightly chemically, slightly creamy aroma."
Neowza
A Hint of French...
"A fish and chips shop burnt down as couple blocks from work a few years ago. The whole neighborhood smelled amazing for days. Just the slight hint of French fries. Nothing overpowering. It was so awesome. Until I found out someone was trapped in the fire and died."
stevey_frac
Drag
Drag Racing Vegas GIF by Don Schumacher RacingGiphy"Race fuel. Instantly puts me in a good mood as it reminds me of going to the drag races with my dad when I was young."
garfnodie
Fuel and matches get me too. And they sort of go together. Interesting.
Just like the Movie...
Johnny Depp Drinking GIFGiphy"The water from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Mmm, bromine."
Stalkerslovemy
"This is one of my favorite scents of all time, and Disney is very aware that people enjoy it. Evidently it’s a lot harder to recreate than just adding bromine to water."
cash4panties
"black widow".
"There's a chicken wing restaurant near my house that has a challenge sauce called "black widow." The owner claims it to be around 500,000 scovilles. A few years back some buddies and I decided to try them, the sauce was a dark molasses color and smelled almost like a BBQ sauce, no hint of the danger that lurked at all. We each grabbed one wing and it went terribly. I don't know how something so spicy could smell so innocent."
Final-Chapter
Endless Weekend
"Hotel/rented rooms whenever you go on vacation. There's this particular smell that just says 'you are on vacation,' especially on a beach/swimming trips/out-of-the-town vacays."
Yummy_Llama
"Bath and Body Works has a plug-in scent called Endless Weekend that replicates that scent (to my humble nose)."
Exxcentrica
"oh no..."
"Someone you are attracted to's body odors. Anyone else who is slightly unhygienic smells repulsive."
Mini_gunslinger
"I remember back in high school a girl leaned over, sniffed me, told me that I smelled really good, and asked me what cologne I was wearing. I asked if she was joking, and she's like, no, you smell really good. When I told her I had just gotten done with gym class, she gets a small 'oh no...' look on her face and turns away. I think we both had a revelation that day."
user deleted
That Smell
Smell It Season 6 GIF by This Is UsGiphy"The smell inflatable things give off. I have no idea how to describe it, but it’s… nostalgic? to me."
crestfxllen
Fresh...
"Pretty bummed no one has said a fresh can of tennis balls."
zeroimpulsecontrol
"While pregnant I was OBSESSED with this smell. Anytime I was in a target or Walmart I’d divert to the sports section and huff tennis balls. I even once stopped by a Big 5 sporting goods store for the sole purpose of smelling tennis balls. Thank you for bringing this memory back to me."
rhapsodyinrainbow
Cozy
"Tires... from bikes or cars. When you enter a shop with bicycles from one end to the other!"
funny-lady-dk
"Grew up in the family business. Auto repair garage. Walking into any garage or greasey/oily environment is like walking into my grandma's living room. It feels cozy."
FixedLoad
Sniff Around
"Sawed wood."
leegunter
"So, story time. As an adult I wanted to cut down my own Christmas tree and just had to have one that smelled right. So I'm at a tree farm with my girlfriend, sniffing (uncut) trees. It took me probably a half hour to figure out that the smell I was looking for was the smell of sawed wood."
LoboRoo
Sulfur Forever
"Fireworks."
Klaydunn
"Yes! My birthday is the 5th after July 4th. And fireworks have always been my favorite and very nostalgic for me. One Fourth of July, my little sister collected all the little fireworks littered on the ground from being fired and put them all inside a glass bottle. She knew I loved the smell so she did that so I’d have them to smell forever. I fucking love sulfur."
stupidmacaroni
Forbidden
happy sponge cake GIF by GottalottaGiphy"Fire lighters they are these weird flammable spongy grey bricks used to get fires started. They smell good enough to eat it's like forbidden sponge cake."
Chimera22
Frozen
"Cold air. It smells different than warm air I swear."
TheBloodPhantom0
"I think it’s not all cold air. But there is this amazing smell when it’s a slightly moist, super cold day with snow all around you. This feels like the cleanest Air you can breathe."
"-30 degrees Celsius and lower it imo starts to smell stale and somehow dangerous though (or maybe it’s my nose reacting to the cold). The freshness certainly goes away. Yes I forgot the e for breathe… please, 1 comment about that is enough…"
Seienchin88
Bark Love
"Wood burning smells good gotta be one of those evolution things."
soysssauce
"Some woods contain certain oils that are released through burning."
"Some pines famously smell like citrus and are used to smoke sushi ingredients.(Now they use restaurant-level blowtorch) Apples, oak, hickory, they're used for smoking meats for a good reason. Ordinary wood may still have traces of sap, resin or tannins that can be constructed by your brain to smell good."
EpilepticMushrooms
Donald Trump Sharpie GIFEvil Smells
"Vanilla essence. It tastes like the devil."
Ursa_Rabia
"I remember in Kindergarten, our teacher brought vanilla extract to class and gave us all a little bit to teach us that we shouldn't eat stuff just because it smells good."
cat-meg
"That’s because it’s got hella alcohol in it. As a stupid middle schooler I used to drink it to try getting drunk. Makes me wanna vomit just thinking about it."
urmammafedmebacon
I do love the smell of plastics and inflatables. Ahh....
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Things really have changed. I miss my IPod. Yes, my IPod. It was perfect.
I miss the Music
Mtv Vintage GIFGiphy"MTV."
heavy_deez
"I was 20 when MTV came on the air. So many good music videos at that time. The channel lost some of its soul when it decreased the amount of music videos and increased the amount of reality shows."
Beautiful-Cat245
No Discussion
"Jump the Shark. Loved that website. Just opinions on when a show began to suck, which I can talk about for hours (I didn't know about Reddit yet). Then TV Guide bought it in 2006 and destroyed it. Every show you clicked on would just cause a search on TV Guide's website about articles pertaining to the show and the phrase 'jump the shark.' No discussion, no anything."
StoolToad9
ads on the way...
"Streaming services. I remember the days when Netflix was king & there were only a few who also shared the industry. Now it seems like there's a new streaming service every week."
CharlieMWY
"My prediction is they will start ads in the future too. It'll end up just like the tv of old. Streaming services will be like tv channels full of ads and you'll flick between them."
FootyJ
The algorithms...
"Youtube."
Fluffy_Speech_8567
"YouTube has become so bad in the last years. I saw a youtuber who got demonetized because he showed how to install Windows 11 on 'unsupported' hardware and that apparently is harmful and dangerous."
QuuxJn
"Their algorithms killed a lot of small/indy creators."
Inglorious_Inge
"For a long time Netflix was anything old and Hulu for the current season of anything. That was reasonable. Now everything is split up."
IudexFatarum
Quality
"The quality of appliances."
No_Indication_6907
"And furniture, and clothing, and homes, and every other consumer good."
TheDrunkyBrewster
The quality decline in appliances and furniture are no joke. Thanks IKEA.
Bad Bones
Ramzy Bedia Reaction GIF by France tvGiphy"My body lol."
andy-corn
"First thing to my mind was 'My back!', but body will also do. Getting older sucks but hey, it beats the alternative."
realistic_swede
My Favorite
"My husband and I have a favorite vegan restaurant (I only point out its vegan because there are like 3 within an hour of us, thats it). We’ve been probably a dozen times over the last year and there was always a wait, business was always booming."
"But they were just bought out by somebody new and that person changed literally everything! The menu, the recipes, the wait staff, all of it. And it now sucks. It was amazing before! Why would you buy something that is working for everyone and then change everything about it?'"
Rahallahan
Pixel issues
"Mobile games. Most of them are ridden with adds and paywalls. If you want a good free mobile game, I suggest anything by rusty lake."
ActuallyABagelMan
"A portable console with touch screen and high pixel screen? It's the dream come true. But then a flabby-bird clone made by an intern in a single afternoon and loaded with ads until pus leaks out your phone turns out to be much better in terms of cash flow."
satooshi-nakamooshi
pizza memories...
"Pizza Hut. 90s Pizza Hut was the best as a kid. Especially when we got PS1 demo discs."
tacobelmont
"I worked in Pizza Hut in the 1980's. We would make our dough fresh every morning, and the pan pizzas twice a day (the dough was only good for 6-8 hours). We would prep the vegetables every day, and cut up the garlic bread daily. There was nothing that was as good as a fresh pan pizza whose dough had just risen and then baked."
SnarkyBear53
GOING LIVE
fireworks diplo GIF by MAJOR LAZERGiphy"Concerts. I used to be able to see a band for $20-$30 a ticket. Now they're all over $100."
ATXKLIPHURD
"You can blame it on Ticketmaster and all the fees that costs more than the actual ticket."
heypokeGL
Bad Sweets
"Cadbury chocolate. Now it's sickly sweet and has a lower percentage of cocoa in it. Yes, it was bought by US company Kraft. They bought it under condition that they would keep production in the UK, and in just one week moved manufacturing to Poland."
"Some of the Brits must remember how Kraft executive was grilled by Parliamentary committee. Not that it made any difference. When later Kraft was asked why Cadbury chocolate has more sugar and less cocoa in it, they replied: 'Americans prefer it very sweet.' According to them, Americans have very sweet tooth and don't mind the quality."
noregrets2022
seasonal restaurant only...
"There was a great seafood restaurant near a place where my family goes on vacation every summer. After decades of great lobster, scallops, fish and prime rib, it gets sold to new owners and they change the menu around. Family goes to the restaurant to try it out under new ownership. Waited more than hour for seafood that was practically inedible."
"They used to give you delicious bread and salads to start but they were all gone. Word got around and business tailed off so badly they closed for the season (seasonal restaurant only) earlier and earlier. The last two years they didn’t even open and it appears they’re never reopening again. It’s a shame."
Damn Susan
"Youtube, it was once a place for the people by the people. now it's a place for the corporations by the corporation. The worst part is that actual good content creators are too scared to make any decent content in fear of breaking their stupid rules."
"And lets not forget the double standard, 'oh here is a 20 second unskippable advert about a naked woman talking about bras, but lets demonetise that guy who said crap once in 1 of his 500 videos to oblivion.' Youtube died ever since Susan came. And just like a Susan she broke and ruined something that was completely fine and profitable."
Miss the OG
colonel sanders dancing GIF by KFC AustraliaGiphy"Kentucky fried chicken. It’s still pretty good… but sucks compared to the old school stuff. I heard Colonel Sanders once went to one of the locations, tried the chicken and was appalled at how horrible it was compared to his method."
KorranHalcyon
The Plunge
"My grades."
Aggressive_Mango_41
"Same. Lockdown ruined my mental health and then my grades just kept falling and I failed a class last quarter with a 4. I don’t have motivation to keep going. I’m trying now, but it’s hard."
squiggly_loser
"I totally get that, the same happened with me. I fell into a horrible depression and developed bad anxiety and now I don’t have the motivation to anything. The worst part is I used to be a straight A AP level student and now I feel like I threw away my future."
Aggressive_Mango_41
In Saint Louis...
"The way turn of the century apartment buildings were constructed, the damn things were built to last and the walls weren’t paper thin. Now the newer ones may look good and have more amenities however they are extremely cheaply built and you can hear your neighbors having sex like they are literally in the same room. At least that’s the way they are here in Saint Louis."
tdfitz89
As a Whole
"The gaming industry. For the sake of clarity, I'm not referring to games themselves. The gaming industry as a whole is a vile cesspool of predatory marketing, intentional deceit, employee physical and mental abuse, absurd working hours, etc... list goes on. It's hard to have faith in developers when they so frequently engage in filthy crumduggery."
bushpotatoe
Happy Places
Stranger Things Indiana GIF by netflixlatGiphy"Shopping Malls."
TheDrunkyBrewster
"Man, I miss the super cool malls of my childhood in the 80s and 90s."
moonbunnychan
The View is Hazy
"A pristine mountain lake - serene with pine trees, pure water, abundant with fish and much wildlife. As I've described in askreddit, the peaceful lake caught on - the trees were cut down and the lakefront developed with oversized houses and docks for motorboats. Now the water is polluted, the fish are gone, and the roar of outboard motors negates peace and quiet."
Back2Bach
I miss the good ole days. But alas, we move forward.
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The most physical pain I have ever had the misfortune of living through is all dental. I don't remember much, the dentist was merciful with the gas, thankfully. But I know the mouth holds a certain type of torture.
Hot Shot
Boiling Hot Water GIF by BrewDogGiphy"5 gallons boiling water being poured down my leg. Trying to hold my volume down while screaming. Got to ER and they shot me in the butt with something and it all went away."
- snoo-you
Broken
"Broken foot. Crap has tons of nerves. I had to walk home a block too. I passed out when I finally got through the door. Luckily someone was there to get me to a hospital."
"In high school, I was running a 2 mile race in track. My foot broke halfway through. I didn't realize it and finished. The pain blurred out all of the physical exertion."
Teen Angst
"I broke my ankle when I was a teen. Walked on it for a month because my parents were insistent I'd just sprained it. Nope. Bottom of my foot turned black from the pooling blood. I was a candy-striper volunteer at the local hospital and showed it to a doctor once. They told me I should see a (ortho) doctor about it. I couldn't do that until my parents took me. So I just stuck my white nursing shoes on and did my rounds."
Awake
"I got my thyroid removed, and because of a miscalculation, I got the anesthesia too early, causing me to wake up mid surgery. Fortunately, they noticed right away and put me back to sleep, but for what was couple seconds and felt like hours I was able to feel my whole neck completely open and them taking my thyroid out. It is up to this day the cause of many nightmares."
Full Force
Drumming Travis Barker GIF by blink-182Giphy"I was drumming really hard once and I missed the snare drum, and smacked myself in the testicles at full force. I switched to lighter drumsticks after that."
That is a whole lot of mess. I may have nightmares. And I'm glad I never played with drums. Also, life lesson... stay away from boiling water. What other horrors await?
Oh Hell No!
troll dentist GIFGiphy"My first dental abscess. It would actually knock me to the ground when the pain flared. Fun fact, I ended up removing the problem tooth with a pair of pliers and a bottle of gin."
Farewell...
"Watching my wife take her last breath, watching the machine they had her hooked to flat line. To this day it's the worse pain I have ever felt. She was 43 and I'm here without her. This pain will never heal, I see it in my daughter's eyes when she does something spectacular and her mother is not here."
- MPS007
Off the Ladder...
"This (NSFL) is my leg after a ladder slipped out from under me when I was 3m above some tiles. Foot went through the ladder, then I landed on it. Popped right off and didn't want to go back on. The worst of the pain was after they got it back on and put it in a cast but I had to wait overnight for surgery. During the night it swelled up too big for the cast and basically for a few of hours it felt like someone was slowly crushing my ankle in a vice."
"Not sudden, just slowly crushing it over hours. I was hyperventilating from pain and passing in and out of consciousness. Nurses finally took me seriously and called the surgeon who had them cut the cast off. Immediate indescribable relief better than anything I've ever experienced."
- cl3ft
A Few Things...
"Physical: Having kidney stones, and then the follow up and passing of tiny pieces from the extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL)."
"Emotional: Making the decision with my family to take my dad off life support and then saying goodbye and being there with him when he passed."
People Explain Which Conspiracy Theories They Believe Are 100% True | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
The Fire
"My wife grew up with a best girlfriend. They were inseparable as young girls, teenagers throughout school, college, and continued into adulthood. Girlfriend got married, and had two children with her husband. I married into the situation, and we all became pretty much family. Their house caught fire while their kids were upstairs."
"Girlfriend went for the girl, husband went for the boy. He and the boy made it out. The pain of losing her and 10-year-old daughter was the worst thing in my life, and I can't even imagine how it is for my wife. They were going to be old ladies together."
Don't Jump
sister kiss GIFGiphy"Running through a housing estate at night, I didn't see the 10" high railings separating the grass patches from the concrete."
"I cleared the first without seeing it to run on the grass, two metres later I tripped and landed knee first on the paving, smashed my kneecap in three pieces. That was a long time without walking and it still hurts in the cold weather."
Holding Down
"Decades ago, I had something going on w/ my bladder, so I needed a scope, which goes straight down the urethra tube. This was back before they had flexible ones, and the scopes were quite rigid. I was sitting calmly on the table in the doctor's office for the procedure and two huge guys walked in the room. I nervously asked the doctor what was going on. He replied "they're going to hold you down". I was swearing at them through the whole ordeal."
- Mm_Donut
Fresh Circle of Hell
"I definitely don't recommend letting your gallbladder store its awful handicraft stones inside your liver. Gallbladder stone pain is bad enough, but having them essentially overflow to back up into my liver was a fresh circle of hell I wouldn't wish on anyone. I was euphoric upon awakening from the stent procedure to remove them; the relief was so overwhelming that I started crying when the GI doctor doing the stent came to my room for follow up."
The Tumor
"I had a tumor in my vagina that could only be described as "hammock" like. i was young and going through puberty with only my dad raising me, put in a tampon and it ripped one side off. before they removed it, they did an ultrasound, the kind where they basically shove an 8 inch scope inside of you. then to numb it they had to put a needle inside of it as well. i've been through childbirth and not even that compares to the pain that i went through with that damn tumor."
Ongoing Issues
"Ran over by a truck and dragged while cycling, hit and run. No initial pain, unconscious for 2 months. However, upon regaining consciousness, I was lvl 10 multiple times a day for the next 6 mos. Had a colostomy for 2 yrs, the pain from defecation was immense. The stoma became inflamed from constant exposure to stomach acids."
"The pain from daily stoma cleaning with antiseptic was indescribable. I heard of pouring salt on wound would apply I guess. Pain was so excruciating I think I may have passed out a few times. Luckily I'm whole again, if was a difficult 2.5 yrs."
- dal1999
30 Hours
Tom And Jerry Pain GIF by Boomerang OfficialGiphy"Worst physical pain I ever felt was a spinal blood patch after an epidural needle went too far. Worse than 30 hours of labor, worse than anything I've ever felt in my life."
Crippled Dreams
"Got shot in my stomach and leg. Stomach one wasn't that bad, went in the front and out my side, but my freaking leg man. The bullet hit the bone between your shin and foot, and got lodged in there. Literally hurts every day. Few years ago I moved across the country with literally no money or plan, and though the struggles made a whole new life for myself. I am currently in school and have a pretty home with 2 beautiful cats and a girlfriend who believes in me. Better late than never right."
She Snapped...
"Finding out my ex fiancé cheated on me and than hearing her literally say that all our promises and memories and all I had done for her didn't matter and she didn't give a sh*t about any of it. Giggled like the years of us being together was a joke and was nothing."
"This girl up until that point was all over me and acted like I was just the best thing in the world. I had never been so happy for years. And thae one day I just woke up and she just snapped. Like she just changed overnight and a cold unfeeling robot had took her place. What even is this life."
Lay back...
"Woke up during surgery. They were cutting into me and prepping to break my leg and reset it with screws and pins. I was about 4 and I'll never forget it. Woke up with all the medical staff hovering over me, telling me to "Lay back and go to sleep." To this day, I have a phobia of going under/surgery. Forget that."
Marlon Brando Movie GIFSnap...
"Snapped all the tendons in my right foot they were pushed into the bone by a piece of glass nearly died three times on the operating table... dehydration, loss of body heat, then my heart stopped so they had to bring me back."
Emotional pain, I don't want to chat about. And this thread makes me want a drink. So that's the plan. Keep smiling and be careful out there.
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