Discussion do you think theres any reason to live if you dont have children?

[settling]

this has been brewing in my mind for a couple hours.
besides the positive utilitarian argument of all the cool superhero movies you might miss, theres pretty much no reason to live if it all ends with you. all that suffering you go through is for pretty much no reason, youre a complete dead end. there was pretty much no meaning to it, just pointless suffering for the sake of suffering.
pretty much everything humans do is to prepare for them to have children. you go to school to make money, which for the vast majority of the human species was to get the skills to so you could get money to have good living standards, not only for you, but future children (why do you think most houses have more than one bed?) money is simply a utility to ensure better welfare for your children and really nothing else, for mere individuals at least.
although there are some exceptions too i think. for example, eunuchs in pre-modern china. they obviously couldnt have kids but you could say there was a point to them living, no? all things considered it was also a pretty cool and important job. also, religious monks and such.
but im obviously not gonna be a civil servant to the emperor of china or join the cult of cybele. i may have kids though. i dont know.
what do you think?

 

[EternalShore]

this post is chock-full of unpopular opinions here, but from a non-religious point of view, tbh, no~ however, as a Christian, I understand that we do have a role on Earth here~ altho, that doesn't stop me from preferring to kill myself if I ever find out that I won't have kids~ >_< in fact, this is probably the most common reason (not saying I don't have others ofc tho~ :/ even when I have kids, I highly doubt they will ever go away as a result of those other reasons~) for me being sewer slidal personally, fearing that I won't ever have children~ :((( I want to care for them and raise them to be good too and experience all the joys of childhood again with them, and if I don't get that, I'd truly rather perish now as there is no more joy left in life for me at this point in my life~ >_<

 

[SASU-KE]

Some people will have this crazy drive at some point in their lives to have children. It will be overwhelming. It happens especially to women, but men as well. If a person doesn't feel that they shouldn't have children. In my opinion, that kind of drive appears only in people who are eligible to be parents.

So yes, never be a parent because you feel it's time or because of any peer pressure Or ideological reason.Do it only if you desperately want to be a parent.

that doesn't stop me from preferring to kill myself if I ever find out that I won't have kids~ >_< in fact, this is probably the most common reason for me being sewer slidal personally, fearing that I won't ever have children~ :((( I want to care for them and raise them to be good too and experience all the joys of childhood again with them, and if I don't get that, I'd truly rather perish now as there is no more joy left in life for me at this point in my life

This is a good example of a person who should be a parent at some point ^^^^

I feel they'll do good as one.

 

[settling]

Some people will have this crazy drive at some point in their lives to have children. It will be overwhelming. It happens especially to women, but men as well. If a person doesn't feel that they shouldn't have children. In my opinion, that kind of drive appears only in people who are eligible to be parents.

i agree. it was just something i was thinking about. i dont believe people should have children to fulfill some sort of role like a "tradwife". that definitely is twisted

 

[Set Real Goul]

A bit of a disjointed text:
For some people, yes. For others, no. I think the question itself isn't framed quite right. The concept of a meaning in life is useful when it motivates you, but if it doesn't, then maybe the hell with it. Having a purpose is helpful when you're actually moving toward it, but if you can't, it can turn into a burden that slowly consumes you.
Most people don't really think about it. If you ask them what their purpose in life is, they'll either say they don't know or come up with something on the spot.
If I suddenly discovered my life's purpose, I think there's a good chance I'd end up hating myself for not taking a single step toward it sooner.
And if someone can't have children because of infertility, they can always adopt.

 

[Mr.Ruben]

I just want to make really cool art, something out of a Ghibli movie,
and until that movie is being made, I have to become good at storyboarding, animating, drawing, solo work, independency, etc.
That's about it, it's very competitive, very harsh treatment from others, but it's what I've grown to love with.

 

[LXR515]

this has been brewing in my mind for a couple hours.
besides the positive utilitarian argument of all the cool superhero movies you might miss, theres pretty much no reason to live if it all ends with you. all that suffering you go through is for pretty much no reason, youre a complete dead end. there was pretty much no meaning to it, just pointless suffering for the sake of suffering.
pretty much everything humans do is to prepare for them to have children. you go to school to make money, which for the vast majority of the human species was to get the skills to so you could get money to have good living standards, not only for you, but future children (why do you think most houses have more than one bed?) money is simply a utility to ensure better welfare for your children and really nothing else, for mere individuals at least.
although there are some exceptions too i think. for example, eunuchs in pre-modern china. they obviously couldnt have kids but you could say there was a point to them living, no? all things considered it was also a pretty cool and important job. also, religious monks and such.
but im obviously not gonna be a civil servant to the emperor of china or join the cult of cybele. i may have kids though. i dont know.
what do you think?

I definetly think there's a purpose without children, I think people largely delude themsleves of the importance of thier lineage/life and feel the need to pass things down even if they would be terrible parents. Some people try to get meaning/purpose out of children as they don't know what else to die with thier life, which is understandable as life is really complex and there's no set path. Most people don't really question the default life script written for everyone.

 

[FF777]

that premise is kind of ridiculous though.. your children's purpose is to have more children....... so they can have more children....... so they can have more children...... then what is the end purpose really? you know?..

you kind of just make your own purpose.. well i guess if you are religious then there are other purposes you have to try to attain too.. but people often end up living a long time and going through a lot of different experiences and arcs of their life and lots of lessons they learn....... successes, failures, relationships, things they build, movements they start, changes they make in the world etc.. there is a lot more to life than just having children even though children are very important.. so yeah there are reasons to live even if you don't end up having children; you get to experience life..

 

[Die.A.Ria]

I dont want to have children at all because your bringing them into a life full of suffering tbh but if i did want to live i would adopt

 

[purebliss]

I dont want to have children at all because your bringing them into a life full of suffering tbh but if i did want to live i would adopt

This is the only appropriate reply ^

You do not have any rights to the unborn child's soul. The very fact that you are on this website proves that life is in itself misery.
And you contribute to that ponzi scheme by procreating.

Every single bad experience
Every rape that happens to the kid
Every violence that happens to the kid
Anything at all

It will be your, and only your, fault. Because you, in your egoistic wish for false immortality, decided to force that being on this planet.

It is unjustifiable in every way and highly immoral

"Those who truly love their child never give birth to them"

 

[SoulWhisperer]

I don't wanna have children, I'd end up traumatising them. Unlike my parents, I won't have kids for the selfish satisfaction of having a doll to play with only to throw it away after and cause even more suffering. I can't even provide money for myself, so let alone somebody else that would depend on me to that level.

It can all very well end up with me, all of it, everything. Because in my vision of life my life is worth lived if I am happy, not if I leave a legacy of biological people after me. If I can call myself satisfied before my death then it'll be a life worth living. If it all ends with me then that's simply how thing would have went. I was never a "hero of the world" type of person for a world that does almost nothing but tragied (I'm not denying the good, I'm saying the bad is enormously big so as the injustices).

This is my personal view for it.

 

[Captive_Mind515]

This is a good example of a person who should be a parent at some point ^^^^

I feel they'll do good as one.

Plenty of people had a "feeling" that they would be a good parent or do some good by bringing more victims into this life… but they were ultimately proven wrong on that feeling, either by their offspring going through horrible suffering or even being the cause of suffering themselves.

Any one of us could produce the next Hitler or Trump or whomever else you might point to… or a serial killer… or their future victims.

And there isn't always a parenting solution to these things. Some things are just out of our control.

 

[Tautochrome]

Reasons to live are yours to choose and yours to reject. Could be kids (though as an antinatalist I find that one... unappealing), could be innovation, political activity, gaining knowledge, travel, art, comfort, observation, confusing the most people, challenging yourself, simple fun. Anything goes. Mainstream lifepath is built on the premise that everyone wants to have kids in the future, but it's in no way authoritative.
And if you think about it, even the rule that you have to leave a long-lasting impact for your life to be meaningful is just constructed

 

[never mind me]

I have never wished to have children, because I don't want the responsibility and I would be afraid to treat them badly like my father did with me. And I know I could never forgive myself, if I have a child and cause it to suffer.
But that didn't mean that I felt life is not worth living. My purpose was (or in theory still is, if I can overcome my health problems that cause me to be suicidal)to explore as much of the world as I can and do lots of fun outdoor stuff like hiking and climbing . And enjoy time with friends (and my boy-friend when our relationship was still good). And the last job I had also gave me purpose as I worked in health care and felt that at least I can help people at little bit to get better.
So I think there are many ways to find a reason to live even without children. And I'd say that if you actually enjoy life you don't necessarily need a purpose to live.

 

[DeathSweetDeath]

What?
There are plenty of people on this site with wealthy or well-off parents who didn't benefit from that, because their parents viewed their money as being for themselves.
You also realize this thing that's been brewing in your brain for years is also completely anti-gay in case you hadn't noticed. If you're anti-you, or you think there's nothing more to life than suffering that's fine, but don't use it to say nobody without children should exist.

 

[sadbh—itstimetogo🤎]

I can see good reasons to not have kids. It's better for the environment, and you get more time and money if you're not a parent.

Some people really love their kids and it brings them a particular sense of fulfillment to raise children. Other people are so fulfilled by other things and don't want kids to disturb their already fulfilled life. There are a lot of ways to contribute and be happy that have nothing to do with kids.

I'm glad less people are having kids these days and questioning that norm, because a lot of people shouldn't be parents, and no one should be bringing a whole ass human into the world because they think "it's what they're supposed to do".

 

[TAW122]

This would be a subjective view, but it will vary from individual to individual, for some people, even without children, they still live and do things, mostly by their personal reasons. I don't think there is a right or wrong answer per se. Personally, I don't have any children nor dependents, nor significant others and objectively speaking there is no point to life itself and that alone isn't my own reason to CTB (I have other reasons to want to CTB, but I won't go off on that tangent here). However with that said, my eventual CTB would not harm those dependent on me as I have no dependents nor did I do anything to bring new sentience into this world and also because I have no SO, I am not leaving them. While my parents and siblings or extended family (not close) may be upset, it would not be fair for me (who has come into this world against my will) to stay around and suffer just so they can sleep better or not feel bad. I have never (nor did anyone who is alive and sentient) consented to existence to begin with and therefore should not have obligation to stick around just so people don't have to feel bad.

 

[plimeix]

I could give you a map to life, you could follow it and genuinely feel it was meaningful… but others would prefer to draw and follow their own map.

 

[limenlux]

From a purely scientific, materialist perspective, the purpose of being human is to create more humans, but I personally don't want to conflate fulfilling a biological imperative with having a sense of meaning in my life.

"He who has a why to live can bear almost any how." - Friedrich Nietzsche

The lack of a why is absolutely deadly. Terminal meaninglessness is the reason some of us are probably here in the first place.

I feel under-equipped to address this subject, but it's interesting to think about.

 

[Off_Switch]

There is no reason to live in general. Children or no children. The universe would not blink an eye if humans ceased to exist. We are so pointless. Here suffering for no reason. People need to stop perpetuating this suffering by having children.

 

[ScarletTanager]

Yes, probably are many other reasons, could be anything you decide or love to do, hobbies, pets, or just waking up in th morning to see the sunrise. Could be a good career or profession, loving to cook, doing what you enjoy every week like drawing, hiking, sports. The old saying is that money makes the world go round, but it's really PASSION!