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Not having kids, every time I have any remorse I spend some time around kids and their parents, in about 5 minutes I'm good
I love kids, but I have never felt a want for them.
This is an interesting nuance. I find most children annoying, and I don't want any of my own, but the love I have for my niece and nephew is bigger than I ever could have imagined.
I guess there's always room for exceptions.
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Same here, having watched how the lives of my friends who had kids changed reaffirmed the decision of not having any for me. You basically have to be prepared to dedicate next couple of decades of our life to raising kids and not doing much of anything else. And you end up giving up the freedom to do things like move to a different town or try a new career. Your primary goal in life becomes having stable income to raise your kids.
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My mom didn't think I should buy a house. In 2009.
I would have been absolutely screwed by now if I'd listened to her advice.
I had the opposite. In 2007 my mom convinced me it's conventional wisdom to buy as much house as you can afford, because historically it is one of the best investments you can make.
Thankfully all I could afford at that time was a pretty cheap house...
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Transitioning.
Tattoos.
Joining the Fediverse
What kind of tattoos?
What molecule is the flower one? That looks sick
Estrogen!
Unfortunately, it will be my only colour tattoo, because I had a hell of time healing that one. My body has rejected all of my piercings over the years, and clearly didn't like the colours either. It seems to handle blacks just fine though
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Not wanting kids.
Cons: you don’t know what you’re missing
Pros: you don’t know what you’re not missing
I don't begrudge anyone not wanting kids. It's not for everyone.
That said, my first thought when I saw the post title was "I don't regret having kids".
I suppose the caveat is that my twins are only 2 and a half, I may well regret having kids when they start getting pregnant, selling drugs, marrying chat bots, that sort of thing.
Edit: I just scrolled through some of the other comments and noticed that the majority of them say that they don't regret not having kids. The fediverse is pretty homogenous I guess.
Were you told you would regret having your kids? That's wild.
It's a lot more common for people to be told that they will regret not having kids, than being told they'll regret having them... so I think the similarities in the responses is quite natural, dont you? Not a lot of parents can answer this post with their kids in mind, but pretty much every voluntarily childless person can.
It’s a lot more common for people to be told that they will regret not having kids, than being told they’ll regret having them
That's not my experience, at all.
When I was in my 20s plenty of older guys would tell me not to have kids. Admittedly, these were the older weirdos hanging out at bars, but the source of the advice isn't really in question right now.
Every single voluntarily childless person I've spoken to have had the experience of being told they'll regret it.
I can only recall two people being told they'd regret their decision to have kids... and they were both teenagers, so even though I don't agree with saying something like that, I can understand the sentiment of wanting them to wait a few years.
Seems we life in very different worlds.
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On my 5th birthday my parents threw a party for me with friends from kindergarten. My father had a pretty good camera for the time and loved taking photos. This was during analog times, way before digital cameras, so you wouldn't just take a bunch of photos because it got expensive. He wanted to take a group photo and I, always being a little annoyed back then with the constant photos, stuck out my tongue. He tried to make me smile but I refused. So he told me he'd take the photo of me sticking out my tongue and I'd regret it when I'm an adult that I don't have a nice photo of me on my 5th birthday. I'm 40 and I don't regret it. Love that photo.
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getting a hysterectomy. this last year has proven that my foresight was indeed correct, the post right above this one is an article about the government planning to reduce or remove access to contraceptives, and no way in hell is anyone gonna make me be pregnant. i was extremely lucky to find a surgeon who would do it since i have no kids and was under thirty at the time.
It is extremely concerning how many surgeons are happy to sterilize men on request, but push back HARD when women ask. I've talked to several women in this exact situation, it's like if you're under 30 and don't have 5 kids you must not have any idea what you want and you lose agency over your own body. One friend who wanted this had surgeons demanding a permission slip from her husband. What the fuck? Does her body belong to him? I find this situation abhorrent. Your body your choice end of story. And if you regret the consequences that's on you, not your doctor. And SHOULD NOT BE your doctor's job to dictate your life plans
As a man who's been very sure he wanted to remain childfeee since his teens: most surgeons won't sterilize men on request either. I was told several times to come back after I was married with at least three kids. Had to move to the literal opposite corner of the country to a place where Planned Parenthood isn't under constant assault to get a vasectomy after decades of chasing one.
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"stop wasting time with that Linux thing. Nobody will ever hire you unless you specialize in Windows"
Linux has done far more for me professionally than being a Windows engineer ever got me, and it repeatedly keeps being proven.
Wish I could say the same, so far Linux knowledge seems to have done very little for me as far as employment goes. I have used it at work before but normally it isn't something anyone else seems to care about. At least my limited knowledge of Windows hasn't been too significant of a problem so far either.
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Spending time playing video games. I enjoyed every minute and I didn't miss out on much.
Not having kids. I have hobbies, and money/time for them.
One of the previous popes called childless couples selfish. I say a never-married 70-year old operating the world's largest paedophile welfare programme has nothing to say to me about child-rearing.
Not having kids.
Getting tattoos. Parents, grandparents etc all said by the time you’re 30 you’ll hate them. Well I’m in my mid 30’s now and I still get new ones.
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not having kids. I still think it was the right decision for me
Cracking my knuckles.
Still waiting on that arthritis I was promised.
Here's a guy who Cracks His Knuckles in Only One Hand for Over 60 Years. What you need to worry about is when they stop cracking, symptom of systemic inflammation.
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Getting heavily tattooed, not having kids, not getting married/“settling down”. I grew up in an extremely conservative Christian home that pushed the standard “American Dream” plan but never embraced it. I’m aware there’s experiences that I’ll never have that are a source of joy and life defining for others, but I knew very early on those things weren’t calling me. Decades later I have zero regrets about what I didn’t do and what I did do.
Not going to prom. Really don't know on what basis people would say that.
I had zero things in common with my high school classmates. Even before cell phones were ubiquitous, I saw all of them as reckless and incompetent. I identified more with the teachers. They seemed normal and level headed for the most part.
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Having kids. Maybe it is just communities I am in, however I fealt whole internet is against having kids.
It was the best decision I ever made!
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Becoming atheist
Not moving out. In Germany there's still a bit of a stigma around living with your parents past your mid-20s but when I see what's currently going on with, you know, the housing market I'm glad I made that decision. I might have been a bit too lazy as well...
Plus I was able to save a bunch of money because of that, which is gonna come in handy for my move to Australia in September.
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Anal
Not doing homework as a kid. Got to have a full childhood with lots of independent fucking around that has shaped my personality for the better. Tested out of school, and now me and those of my cohort who tried are all in the same boat anyway.
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Not playing football, or being interested it it at all.
Never trying alcohol or drugs or cigarettes or gambling. My whole life I've had a strong intuitive sense to avoid all that stuff, and I've never even had the slightest desire. When I was in the army my colleagues would tease me that eventually some day I would crack and give in to the dark side, but nah.
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this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2026
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