I’m Reblogging This For The Discussion Of Community And Elder Care. I’m A Mom Of 2 Little Kids, And

I’m reblogging this for the discussion of community and elder care. I’m a mom of 2 little kids, and my career is in nursing. So I am not child-free, and I really do support anyone who wants to be child-free for whatever reason (none of my business). But what I do hope for is that you do support children in whatever capacity that you can do**

Find out how you can volunteer at a local school, volunteer with a scout troop or camp, children’s hospital. Put love and respect and empathy into the world of children. It takes a village to raise kids and that village is gone for so many families nowadays. Maybe child-free people can help bring back part of that “village”. You don’t have to be a full time parent to a kid to have a positive impact on future generations’ lives. When these kids grow up having positive experiences with adults in their lives they will have (I hope) more empathy for adults and older adults who need help.

** If you cannot stand to spend time around young children then try older children. If you can’t be around kids of any age without being toxic then please sit this one out and leave kids alone. I don’t know what advice to give you, but follow the advice of the above posters and please work on your other community connections. You can be a cranky old man/lady/non-binary but please do have some kind of personal relationships because I want you to be cranky and cared for 💗

It feels taboo as a childfree person to admit this but I actually do have concerns about who is going to take care of me when I'm old. The elder care system in our nation relies A LOT on the unpaid care labor of adult children. I just don't think that's a good reason to have kids.

"But you'll have more money!" does not completely put this to rest for me. Neither does "Buy care insurance!" Even if I can afford direct personal care, who is going to advocate for me to get it? Who is going to navigate bureaucracy for me when I'm 80?

"If you do have kids, there's no GUARANTEE that they'll take care of you when your old!" That's true, but doesn't solve my problem.

I think childfree people get very defensive about this question because its used as a kind of "gotcha!" against us, but I actually do not feel we can afford to be in denial about this reality. Based on current trends of more people in their 30s stating they intend to be permanently childfree, we are going to see a huge wave of childfree adults hitting the eldercare system at once in a few decades. Childfree people in their 30s should be advocating around eldercare NOW.