Jen...you have been in my head! Those are exactly the reason I have chosen to be childless...(CBC...childless by choice.) One other as well....I knew I would not be a good mother. I believe parenting to be the most difficult job around. Just as I do not have the skills to play the piano, I do not have the skills to parent a child. I also think more people should think long and hard about whether they have those skills and WHY they want children. I see way too many people who have children who don't appear to be doing a stellar job of parenting.

A friend of mine reminds me that at 12 I announced I would not have children. I have changed one diaper in my life and that is enough. When people ask me if I "want to hold the baby" I am baffled as to why I would want to do such a thing.

I'm willing to settle for my immortality to be a park bench somewhere that has my name and invites the passerby to sit a while, I've got no place to go!