A review by littletaiko
Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on The Decision Not To Have Kids by Meghan Daum

4.0

This collection of essays by sixteen different writers about their decision to not have children was quite eye-opening. I'm not a writer but have chosen to not have children as having them was never something I felt a strong desire to do. What surprised me the most in reading the collection was how many of them felt societal pressure to have children and they were being judged as lesser than for not having them. I guess I've been quite fortunate to have somehow escaped all that. I have friends who have children and lots of them who have chosen not too. Nobody has indicated one way or the other that they have any feelings whatsoever about my choices. Even my family has been rather low-key and have never really tried to get me to change my mind.

The essays really show a variety of reasons as to why people make the choices they do. While some of them rubbed me the wrong way, every single one gave me something to think about.