For my wife and I, it was a money decision not to have kids. After 22 1/2 years of marriage, we still don't have them, and can't anymore. Now, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but did you know Betty White never had kids either? And I think she's in her 80's now. Does she look unhappy? I don't get that impression.
What do I mean it was a money decision? Well, we were never, nor are we now, financially wealthy. We live paycheck to paycheck, and have for all of our marriage. We don't see that ever changing. Both of us have SOME college background, but neither of us ever graduated from college, only HS. We refused to bring a child into this world if we ourselves could not stand on our own two feet.
Unfortunately, neither side of our families left us an inheritance, or prepared us for a family business of any kind. We make less than $10,000 a year, but we're happy with one another. In our own sights, it was an irresponsible thing to bring a child into the world on those terms. And we refused to use the powers of Welfare to do so.
Early on in our marriage, adoption seemed more of a reasonable solution. If we could not afford to have our own kids, why not make some other kids happy that don't have a family to call their own? We explored this option, but it never came to be. It's still a contemplation for us, but as the years dwindle down in our life, we realizing this will never come to pass either.
So, like Betty White, animals became our focus. We adopted two doggies from a shelter, and I'll tell ya this. They make our lives so happy! And it's so much less expensive than bringing up a child on minimum income. But then, we're left to wonder. How much more happier would our lives have been having had children - if we didn't let money be the dictator in having them? One could only wonder though, I suppose.
I wish we were all born with a Silver Spoon, but regrettably, we're not, are we?