I'm content for now to play the role of uncle for my nieces. :yes:

As for having children of my own...well...I don't even have pets yet because I can barely take care of myself without having to be concerned about the health and welfare of a dependent being. :drop:

I have hetero friends in relationships that aren't interested in having children ever. I have friends in homo relationships that would like to have children but aren't sure now is the right climate in which to raise children.

Splitting hairs over single parenting versus coupled parenting is ridiculous to me. I'm sure couples have it easier because the responsibilities can be shared, one partner picking up slack or whatever, but single parents can prosper just as well given an extended support network. So much emphasis is placed on the nuclear family in America that it ignores the older and more established generational model. Grandparent(s), parent(s), and children living in the same household.

Having children is no guarantee they will take care of you when you're older. How many older parents get shipped off to retirement communities because their adult children don't have the time, space or money to take care of them?

I come from a fairly close-knit family. No one talks about putting anybody in a home unless there's a serious medical condition that requires professional, round the clock care. My grandmother is in her 90s and requires a chair lift to take her up and down stairs, but she's happy and healthy enough to stay with my parents. However, I have an aunt who requires specialized medical attention, so her children had to put her into an assisted living facility.

Having children is the surest way of leaving a legacy, of course. Descendants are one's immortality.

Since I can't make a stable adult relationship work at this point, children of my own is not in the cards. I know plenty of folks are waiting till their older to have and raise kids, but I doubt that I'll be doing such if I hit 40 and haven't gotten my life stabilized enough to consider the responsibility.

Of course, I have the luxury of being a man and gay. The likelihood of me getting a woman pregnant without planning on it is very, very, very slim! Sometimes becoming a parent isn't what you planned. And I guess quickly your mettle is tested and your role is defined.


:jean: Look at me. I've never been preggers, but somehow I've got a brood of cross-time cubs that call me mama!

:emma: And now I have my darling Cuckoos to take care of me when I'm ol--I mean, when I'm mature.

:xavier: And I have an army of mutants to take care of me when I'm in my twilight. Now that's forward thinking!