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Childless adults.

When you see a parent with an infant do you sometimes wish very badly to hold that infant?  This happened to me today.

Posted - March 19, 2017

Responses


  • 53502

    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.

      March 19, 2017 4:34 PM MDT
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  • Yes, I am by choice.  Still, to hold an infant (content or sleeping) is a precious thing.
      March 19, 2017 4:40 PM MDT
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  • 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.
      March 19, 2017 4:50 PM MDT
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  • 6124
    LOL!  
      March 19, 2017 5:28 PM MDT
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  • 53502
    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. 

    ~
      March 19, 2017 4:57 PM MDT
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  • 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.   
      March 19, 2017 5:06 PM MDT
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  • 53502
    (Sigh.)

    "Most"?

    I see that not a word I've written has resonated. 
    -
      March 19, 2017 5:12 PM MDT
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  • You are being intentionally tedious.  Yes, perhaps your efforts are wasted and might be better applied elsewhere.
      March 19, 2017 5:22 PM MDT
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  • 53502
    You are being equally tedious, implying that others must think as you do, also a wasted venture. 
    -
      March 19, 2017 5:25 PM MDT
    1

  • 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. 
      March 19, 2017 5:34 PM MDT
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  • 53502
    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. 
    -
      March 19, 2017 6:13 PM MDT
    1

  • ...intentionally tedious...
    I've never heard that before.
    That's pretty good!


    This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at March 19, 2017 10:22 PM MDT
      March 19, 2017 10:15 PM MDT
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  • 19937
    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. :)
      March 19, 2017 7:54 PM MDT
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  • 6477
    Can't say I do, but then I've had 3 of my own, and one's still only 15.
      March 19, 2017 4:37 PM MDT
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  • 15 year olds can be cool and fun to hang out with, but alas they are not as endearing as an infant.
      March 19, 2017 4:42 PM MDT
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  • 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.
      March 19, 2017 4:44 PM MDT
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  • 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
      March 19, 2017 5:12 PM MDT
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  • 14
    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.     
      March 19, 2017 5:00 PM MDT
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  • 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
      March 19, 2017 5:10 PM MDT
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  • 5614
    Your hormones kicking in wanting you to make babies. The bio clock is a tickin. This post was edited by O-uknow at March 19, 2017 6:27 PM MDT
      March 19, 2017 5:15 PM MDT
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  • 6124
    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.
      March 19, 2017 5:37 PM MDT
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  • No. I'd never make such a request.
      March 19, 2017 6:16 PM MDT
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  • Dear Whistle6,

    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.
      March 19, 2017 6:16 PM MDT
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  • 7280
    And risk waking it up?---you've got to be kidding.
      March 19, 2017 6:18 PM MDT
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