Sue,
My wife and I are currently childless after 16 years of marriage. A lot of factors influenced this situation that are long and drawn out and possibly out of scope.
I would never use the labels you mention for people in that situation (even if it is by choice) although immature at least could have been applied to us. Due primarily to age, it is highly unlikely that we will ever have biological children of our own. This saddens me greatly. I would only counsel you to consider that this is something that is pretty much a permanent situation. We are only "productive" for a limited window in our lives. We missed that window and suffer for it.
Not that finances really played a big part in our decision to not have/wait/what's the rush scenario, but I would give up pretty much all "materially" of what we have to be able to have our own.
We are currently pursuing foster care and adoption, but things in my past (nothing sick) are presenting obstacles right now. We believe that all will work out in this area, we have the support of other care givers and pastors in this area so we are hopeful.
I know people have many reasons for remaining childless and I do not fault them in any way. All I would say to you is seriously consider the long term ramifications. There is no "do over" in this, when the clock runs out, the time is up.
Michael
>I've seen many different thread topics on this list, and so I
>thought I'd jump
>in and start another one that has been on my mind of
>late....childlessness. I
>have chosen not to have children, and there seems to be quite
>a stigma hanging
>over childless people....particularly those who are childless
>by choice. It's
>not that I don't like children...in fact I think they're
>adorable and they
>make me laugh, but it seems like society frowns upon people
>like me who choose
>not to have them. Words like "immature" or "deviant" are
>often used to
>describe people like me.
>
>I'm interested in reading some thoughts on this.
>