Childfree Role Models

The majority of people growing up are taught that when they become adults, they get a job, get married, and have kids. That’s just the “natural cycle of things,” and is what’s encouraged and considered the norm. There are some people that might never be around childfree people, but as statistics show, the growing number of childfree make this harder and harder. This could possibly be that people have now become more open about being childfree where before they just never talked about. They just told nosy people they were putting it off and just never had any.

This got me thinking, I was actually around many childfree couples growing up. Interestingly enough, the majority of these couples were members of the horse show community. Some were trainers and it was what they did for a living, some were just amateurs (like I now am) that worked the daily grind like everyone else, and considered it their horses and weekend shows a hobby. To me, I never thought it was unusual that these people didn’t have children. They had more than enough to keep them busy and “fulfilled” and seemed to have a damn good time doing it too. One of them was a husband and wife trainer team. He rode and trained one discipline and she did another and coached. Riding and training horses isn’t something that is conducive to maternity leave. With a normal desk job, a woman can work pretty much up until she’s read to pop that baby out. However, with most physical jobs, that’s not possible, and that is one income that is pretty much gone for remainder while she’s out. Sure, there are plenty of people out there that do that, but you can bet it’s not easy.

That said, ironically, these were some people that had a huge influence on my life (not just the childfree part, but life in general), and I’m eternally grateful to them. They were the most fun to be around and to a 10 year-old kid, they didn’t seem like “normal” adults plagued with the responsibility of a family. To me, those people always seemed very boring. While other people had to rush home to take care of their “little darlings,” they were free to hang out after lessons and classes and chat and didn’t treat me like “just some kid” but talked to me like I was another adult. (Just also goes to show that not all childfree hate kids too Another myth dispelled.)

Now that I’ve become more active in the childfree community, it makes me realize that, in a way, I’ve been active in it for some time. Although this was about 10-15 years ago, and I was not actively considering myself childfree (but I knew I hated kids), it’s funny how some things can come full circle. I can actually get along with some kids at the stable that I’m at now. Of course, they aren’t little kids, they’re about 16, but still “kids” to me. They work hard, know what they’re doing, don’t whine and don’t get in my way. That, I can handle. Who knows, maybe someday the “young’uns” will consider me a cool adult and not one of those fuddy-duddy old people.

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