Italy to ban plastic bags

[Phox]

Phox would dearly love to be a mommy. 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I don't think anyone "should" want to have kids. I'm just wondering why people who don't have them by choice say things like that. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say anything like that about other areas of life, like having a house or a car or a partner or a business or friends or pets. Is it that they just can't wrap their heads around the idea of enjoying having the little freaks around?

There are a lot of parents who talk about their precious little miracles, from every vocalized misconception they have about the way the world works to their rapidly increasing size.  It's understandable, because that's pretty much what that person's life becomes, but it's tiresome.  I think the "this is why I don't have kids" is a counter to that.  There are too many parents who don't realize how incredibly uninteresting their kids actually are to anyone but themselves.  It's like people who talk about their cats, or that dream they had that, you don't even know, felt so real.

Then for some, like me, having kids is up in the air, so the "this is why I don't have kids" is less a snooty look-how-free-I-am statement and more an affirmation as to the decision (not that it's much a decision at this point).

Ugh, I hate that. Some funny/cute stories are great, but the parents who go on and on about their kids need to get a hobby. Also cats. Fuck. Three of my four Monday-night regulars have cats, and they'll talk about them for HOURS. About CATS. Cats are not that interesting. It's impossible for cats to be that interesting. "And then he was laying there and it was so cute" pretty much sums up EVERYTHING ABOUT A CAT'S LIFE.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I don't think anyone "should" want to have kids. I'm just wondering why people who don't have them by choice say things like that. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say anything like that about other areas of life, like having a house or a car or a partner or a business or friends or pets. Is it that they just can't wrap their heads around the idea of enjoying having the little freaks around?

Not at all, I've seen other parents with their kids (pretty much everyone in my immediate circle of friends has kids now), but I also see all the bad points about being a parent, which it seems like fade in the mind of the actual parent because it is overshadowed by the good points.  But from an outside perspective it all seems like way too much.  For me.  And now and then things remind me of that.  Like babysitting my niece and nephew... or thinking about checking a house for smoke or peanut residue.

Sorry if I offended any parents.

I'm not offended, really... I just think it's weird that people say it all the time. My chickens are probably a bigger pain in the ass than my kids, but nobody ever says "Man, that's why *I* don't have chickens!" when I have to go home at dusk to close the henhouse door.

If, god forbid, my kid had a horrible life-threatening peanut allergy (pretty rare but it happens) I'd  probably just buy a new house. They don't cost more than old houses, typically, it's just that they're usually in less convenient locations.

[Suu]

As adorable as my cats are. I have maybe...one or two genuinely funny stories about them. Other than that, they're just fuzzballs who do crazy things over and over again.

[Phox]

As adorable as my cats are. I have maybe...one or two genuinely funny stories about them. Other than that, they're just fuzzballs who do crazy things over and over again.

Yeah, the most interesting thing I can say about my cat is the story of his name.

[the last yatto]

genetic profiling is illegal

Wait 'til we repeal Obamacare
        /

[The Good Reverend Roger]

FUCK ALL OF YOU!  MY MOTHER DIED FROM 4TH HAND SMOKE!

[BabylonHoruv]

I don't think anyone "should" want to have kids. I'm just wondering why people who don't have them by choice say things like that. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say anything like that about other areas of life, like having a house or a car or a partner or a business or friends or pets. Is it that they just can't wrap their heads around the idea of enjoying having the little freaks around?

I kind of like having kids being something that is socially frowned on.  There are way too many people.  If it's "not cool" to have children less people will have them.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I don't think anyone "should" want to have kids. I'm just wondering why people who don't have them by choice say things like that. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say anything like that about other areas of life, like having a house or a car or a partner or a business or friends or pets. Is it that they just can't wrap their heads around the idea of enjoying having the little freaks around?

I kind of like having kids being something that is socially frowned on.  There are way too many people.  If it's "not cool" to have children less people will have them.

They're not socially frowned on. It's just a weird phrase that people who don't have kids like to throw out there, and what I'm asking is why.

[Cramulus]

There are way too many people.

depends on where you live

[BabylonHoruv]

There are way too many people.

depends on where you live

Planet Earth.

[Epimetheus]

"And then he was laying there and it was so cute" pretty much sums up EVERYTHING ABOUT A CAT'S LIFE.

TRUTH.

[hooplala]

There are way too many people.

depends on where you live

Planet Earth.

Wrong.

[East Coast Hustle]

There are way too many people.

depends on where you live

Planet Earth.

Do you ever talk out of your mouth, or is your entire catalog of verbiage strictly anally-issued?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

There are way too many people.

depends on where you live

Planet Earth.

I am not a huge fan of viewing communities from a global population perspective. It doesn't work very well on a local level.

I'm also not a person who thinks we should utilize every available square inch of planet for our fucking and feeding.

However, in some areas populations are growing far too fast, while others are in decline. Looking at it from a local perspective is a far more functional approach, IMO.