50 Parents Get Raw And Honest About What They Regret About Having Kids

To provide you with an alternative point of view, we contacted Talya Stone, a former public relations specialist turned blogger and the woman behind online journals Motherhood: The Real Deal and 40 Now What — bold and authentic, Stone consistently tackles difficult subjects and, among other topics, has produced plenty of insightful texts on parenting.

"I think it's important to know that couples can make it through the hard times without kids first," Stone told Bored Panda. "So make sacrifices, endure some hard stuff, throw yourself in pressure cooker situations, take on responsibilities you would rather not. This is what all the hard stuff of parenting is about. Having a dog and having to pick up their poo, get up at silly hours to walk them even when you are shattered, and not being able to do a whole bunch of stuff because you decided to have a fur baby is good prep for having a real baby or child!"

"Also, spend time with people with babies and toddlers. Lots of it. You'll see what life on the frontline of being a parent is really like rather than the make-believe stuff in the movies," Stone added.

Contrary to what many expected, birth rates in the United States dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic amid the twin public health and economic crises, lending evidence to predictions from early on in the outbreak that economic uncertainty might trigger a baby bust.

This continued the downward trend in U.S. fertility rates, which were already at a record low before the pandemic began.

A 2021 Pew Research Center survey discovered that a rising share of U.S. adults who are not already parents say they are unlikely to ever have children, and their reasons range from just not wanting to have kids to concerns about climate change and the environment.

Some 44% of non-parents ages 18 to 49 say it is not too or not at all likely that they will have children someday, an increase of 7 percentage points from the 37% who said the same in a 2018 survey.

However, parents and childfree people often view each other as enemies and get into heated arguments that can be easily avoided.

Talya Stone believes that both groups should have more empathy.

"Before I had children, I had no idea why someone wouldn't want a child. Then I had a child, had all my freedoms whipped from underneath me, and I got it," she said. "There are a lot of reasons people choose not to have children these days, and they should all be respected and never questioned."

"Likewise, childfree people need to respect someone's choice to want to become a parent. There should be no judgment from either side. The best strategy is to inwardly agree that you get it, but it's not for you... no rubbing anyone's faces in it!" she added.