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I've been married to my wife for over a decade and we dated years before that.  Early on, neither of us wanted kids but left the door open for years, should one of us change our mind.  We have not and I cannot imagine we will.

The pressure from society to reproduce is stunning.  When we first bought a house and got a dog, the question of when we'd also have a baby was of the most common of occurences.  It's amazing how it's socially acceptable and that because some of us choose to not have kids, it's worthy of an entire hour of radio.  I think the topic should be "Kids: What's the Obsession?"

We are being asked to tell how we chose to not have children.  We didn't.  We just never chose to have children.  Have our thoughts changed over time?  Little.  There are thousands and thousands of children even here in Oregon with parents who lack the ability to parent.  Without kids, imagine how we can help them.  That was the thought then, that is the thought now (though with careers and hobbies, we're not there yet)

The final thought: how did we deal with pressure?  In a fashion I felt was equally inappropriate to the questions or pressure.  "We'll have kids as soon as it's socially acceptable to leave them in the yard all day with the dog."  Of course, the dog doesn't stay outside anymore anyhow.

posted 3 years, 7 months ago
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Ludwick is deliberately misrepresenting this paragraph:

Average tuition for full-time undergraduates at the seven universities would go up to about $6,000 in two years, which doesn't include student fees that typically add another $1,300 to annual costs. That would generate about one-third of the $252 million needed to fill a 30 percent hole in the university system's $840 million budget.

Full link of the article he referenced is here: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/oregon_universities_plan_for_t.html

posted 4 years, 1 month ago
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