redrobin62 wrote:
You're only 15. You'll probably singing a different tune in, oh, 10 years or so.
Not to insult Redrobin62, which is not the point here, but that is probably the most often uttered phrase I've heard after 1) Where are you from? 2) What's it like to have AS? Granted, you are 'only' 15 years old, but I remember being 12 and thinking "I will never have a child". Twelve years later, I still think the same, even though I am engaged, happy in my relationship, I'm graduating from university next year and it looks like I'll buy a house with my fiancé in two years or so (some of my friends who are in the same situation are already making their family plans).
I (and many others):
1. do not enjoy being with children (except for two, the neighbors' kids)
2. don't want to see my life change dramatically if I have a child (and it will)
3. don't want the possibility over my marriage breaking up if there are ever difficulties with a child (this has happened eight times in my personal circles over the past 10 years)
4. don't want to drift away from my future husband because it takes so much time, energy and money to raise a child
5. don't want a child who could possibly have an ASD and epilepsy, which my fiancé has
6. don't feel I need a child in my life to give it purpose
By far the most important reason deserves a little more sentences. If you've always thought you wouldn't have a child, and suddenly you do, chances are you are either 1) under the influence of people in your environment starting a family (like with women whose friends all become pregnant within 2-3 years), or 2) your biological clock is going off. Either way, those two things heavily influence what you had previously thought. We all know jealousy/feeling of emptiness etc. and physical needs can trigger us to make decision based solely on that.
BUT, and this is my life motto, if your body is telling you to have a child, or you feel you cannot be the only one without kids in your circle, do you respond to it? Because it doesn't correspond what you might have thought for years. I'm sorry, but I genuinely don't feel that some of the women I know started to have children because they really wanted to, but because they were tricked to think they did. And I don't lie when I say that those families... Aren't turning out super great.
In conclusion: you cannot foretell the future, but don't let yourself get hung up on things like "You'll feel different in ten years", "You're just a child, you can't say that" or "Everybody will eventually get those feelings".
You cannot say what you'll be thinking in ten years, but you CAN say what you want RIGHT NOW for something that could be an issue in about ten years. I'm sure I don't want kids now, or in ten years, but I can never say that this will be the same when I'm actually 34.
Last tips - and then I'll definitely stop sounding like a grandma:
1. If it turns out that, in ten years, you'll be telling this to another 15-year-old - in the meantime, don't lose faith in yourself. Some people don't like to hear that you don't want to procreate, and it's quite natural that they don't, we do, after all, live in a christian society in which procreation seems important. You can do whatever you want in your life.
2. If you notice that this thought is persistent, make sure that in a few years (when child-bearing times are current) your possible partner feels the same.
3. I read on your profile that you like dogs. My fiancé and I are picking up our first pet together, a chameleon, this week and are planning to give home to two dogs in the future. Because, while we don't want children, we do want to care for someone.
4. If you ever get into a heated discussion when trying to answer the question "Why
don't you want children?!", ask the person why they do.
5. Never, ever get sterilized. A friend of mine (45) did it because she is gay and definitely didn't want children, but now that she's married to a woman who has two children from a previous marriage to a man, she is devastated. You have the possibility to say you don't want children - maybe it's good to keep this possibility open.