I work nightshifts in engineering and all of my colleagues are men but they all, without exception, have or want kids. When I mentioned to them that I didn't want kids I got a mixture of responses, one of the most extreme was to be called an ignorant, selfish f*****g pig! I've spoken to the guy who said it lots since, I've explained my viewpoints calmly and reasonably and we get on fine now, even to the extent that he's said to me that I'm right not to want kids because it's not for everybody. Funnily enough, I'd now consider him as one of my best friends at work. He has two kids and five grandchildren, they're the apple of his eye and I'm delighted that he's got the fulfilment he wanted from parenthood. He's very old-fashioned in his viewpoints, truly of another generation and I'm pretty sure that most women today wouldn't want the life his wife's had - That of 'little woman who doesn't have a career but is happy doing the child-rearing, cooking and cleaning'. By his own admission he left most of the work of childrearing to his wife and expected their home to be kept clean and his dinner on the table every night.
Another colleague who was seven years older than me and whos life revolved around his family, said that it was 'very sad' that I didn't want children, less than a year later his wife left him and took their daughter with her and he committed suicide, next month will be the anniversary of his death. I don't think my decision to remain childfree and to pursue my own personal fulfillment is sad at all and certainly a lot less sad than what happened to him.
I like working in an environment where kids wouldn't be physically safe and during hours when they're all asleep anyway.
Pete
