Hindsight: No Kidding

I was watching the Today Show earlier and one of the feature news is about No Kidding – a unique International non-profit organization devoted to singles and people who are “child-free by choice”. In simpler term… this is the organization for people who don’t only have any kids but they have no kids because they don’t want any, period!

Well, in our present imperfect society, we are all familiar with the typical nuclear family system which we all know has evolved into different categories in our now more complicated culture and altered social orientation. However, despite this truth, when we talk about family we always think that it is not complete without kids. Without kids… there is no such thing as family or so we think.

I am not a member of No Kidding or its British counterpart – Kidding Aside which is a more politically motivated movement on the other side of the planet nor have anything against having kids. In fact I do want to have a kid and almost had one until that fateful day in April of 2008. Since 2008, my desire to have kids have diminished but not totally forgotten. But given a choice, at my age which is both a physical and psychological disadvantage on my part and with my step-son’s Autism, my desire on having my own is taking a back seat until God decides on my future.

Working with kids for almost half of my life, I know I will make a good mom. Kids taught me compassion, patience, humility, commitment and endurance. Working with kids keeps me young and energetic. But like any other job, it is also exhausting, draining, and frustrating in some aspects. Working with kids for the longest time now… experiencing their ups and downs… being able to survive each day without dealing with their tantrums and whatnots or without breaking down, I know I am done with kids. Hahahaha.

In my personal option, I find kids cute. They are adorable and charming but they can turn into little monsters given a particular time of the day or a specific trigger to activate an outburst. Their sweet little faces and fascinating innocence make me smile but their meltdown melts me down, literally. They are funny but messy and I hate cleaning up. And being able to see both sides of the coin I know that there are advantages and disadvantages of not having kids. To be able to send them back to their parents after the day or when things are not turning up well is just one. Needless to say, raising kids nowadays don’t only take a lot of courage, patience and understanding but financial consideration too.

In my line of work, I somehow gained some expertise on kids. You don’t need to be a parent to be able to know if you can raise a child because I believe that not all parents are capable of raising one. Trust me! There are parents who should not have kids at all. As for me, I think that kids are cute up to 5 years old only. When they grow older and begin to analyze things themselves and gain more independence and knowledge, they are not that cute anymore. If only they can be very independent and can start working for themselves at that age… they should move out and live on their own once they reached age 5. hahahaha

To those who do not want to have more kids or don’t really want any… working with them is the best Birth Control ever… no side effects. But kidding aside… a child is a blessing and this I still believe is – true, period!