Some people are childless by choice, and/or have never had any pangs of being a parent. Not every person has the same perspective on a particular issue, even when that person falls into the same demographic as others.
I have sometimes wondered what parent would say were I to boldly but quietly ask to hold the baby. Holding a baby gives one hope. Unless of course the baby stinks, which is sometimes the case.
It's a precious thing to those who consider it a precious thing; that doesn't mean that all who are childless share the same desire(s). Some people want to hold infants, some do not. Neither group is either right or wrong, it comes down to personal preference. I do not discount your personal perspective on it, and there absolutely nothing wrong with you seeing it the way you do. The way you phrased your original question, and in part the way you phrased your reply to me, it seems as if you're projecting your own point of view on all childless adults, intimating that being childless leaves them feeling a void. There's nothing wrong with someone deciding for himself or herself to remain childless, nor is there anything wrong with a person not having maternal or paternal instincts. Some cultures and some societies attempt to cram down their people's throats how they're "supposed" to feel, to think, to do, to want, etc.
Perhaps my post was poorly phrased but such a reading I had no intention of. I'm childless by choice and glad of that choice. Still I suspect most people respond positively to a sleeping or happy infant.
For all your posturing of linguistic superiority you seem to have difficulty in understanding simple statements. I have put forth nothing you attempt to take me to task for.
Please don't mistake it as a desire on my part to "take you to task", and I believe you've proven yourself to be as eloquent and intelligent as the best of them, so you may have grasped the essence of my linguistics. I bear no ill will toward you whatsoever, and as I stated previously, your point is a noble one that I do not discount. You and I may have differing viewpoints, and that's ok too. -
It absolutely is a precious thing. I have no children, but all my sisters do and I loved nothing more than to hold them and cuddle them when they were little. Now, all but two of them have children of their own and I get to do it all over again. :)
Nah. We gave all our time to our kids but now that they've grown and have kids of their own I don't get anyu of those paternal feelings.
Mind you, I spent a couple of months being gtreated in a cancer clinic and it was the littlea kids, some of them younger than 10, who really touched the heartstrings., Maybe my feelings haven't completely calcified.
One would have to be dead not to be moved by anyone's battle with cancer, very especially a child's.
This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at March 19, 2017 10:23 PM MDT
No actually. I like children well enough but when i see someone else with an infant i feel no desire to hold it. In fact i usually think how blessed it is that i dont have to deal with an infant and that im glad its them and not me. When the child can walk and talk im good but infants do nothing for me. When packaged and presented right they seem cute and sweet and cuddly but in reality, infants are noisy, messy, smelly, funny looking, very expensive and mindless packages of 'No thanks'. The world need not depend on me for procreative donation.
Hahahahaha! Packaged and presented right! I like that. Then then that is something forced upon us most of our lives, no? Ties, cosmetics, inane footwear, piece of shiny metal and stones...
This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at March 19, 2017 10:23 PM MDT
I understand what you are saying whistle and I feel the same way you do. I chose not to have children. I never had any hormonal desire to have them. Work was more important to me. I think what we're both feeling is something that comes with age. After turning 50, I started to feel the urge to hold babies. It surprised me. Still does. There is now a part of me that regrets not having them.
P.S. Don't ask strangers if you can hold their babies. My grandmother used to do it and it freaked the parents out. I had to literally drag her away. lol.
I am childless, and have never wanted children...and yes, I can understand what you describe. I actually think the urge to hold babies is evolutionarily programmed into us, maybe even ALL of us...can pop up when you least expect it...continuation of the species, and all that.
Also I think adults have an evolutionary instinct to protect infants; I once knew a man who reached out of his car and caught a baby flying through the air, from the car in front of him. And he did this while he was driving his own car!
* * * Okay, one more story...my friend Alicia, she confided to me...when she caught sight of a baby, she could feel her uterus contract! You cannot help this, it is humankind, it is who we are.
Randy D 