Am I the only person in the world that doesn't want kids?

[keird]

do people really have kids to "carry on the name"?

*shudder*

No.

I just had a daughter who turned 1. I was recently in Ancestry.com trying to trace my family lineage. When you get to the 6th-8th generation of a person's direct lineage, the sheer enormity of family names is staggering. For one common name to survive (depending on the naming conventions) isn't really that interesting. It's just convention.

Maybe I'll pay for the DNA tests to see where any specific markers come from, but any living human is a testament to those that came before them.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

No, you're not alone. The wife and I have decided not to have kids. There are just too many things we want to do in life and it wouldn't be fair to us or the kids to have them.

 

[ixelion]

Aside from the moral/ethical issues that would present, do you know how genetics work? Random mutations and genetic diversity are generally good for a species in the long term.

Parenting is not a genetic trait, the only "parenting" abilities you get from genetics is basic nurturing instincts i.e. "unconditional love".

Socializing children is a LEARNED trait and has no basis in biology. We should be screening people based on their capacity to properly integrate children into society.

In other words people think that being a parent is something that comes "natural", that you will just know what the right thing to do as you go along. To put it plainly, this is a myth, whose wide spread acceptance produces many social problems.

Raising a child is more complicated than driving a car, and yet only one of those things require you to pass multiple tests to prove your abilities.