Poll: No children: a turn-off?

[Jonluw]

Hiya escapists.

I'm supposed to be studying for a chemistry mock exam today, so as per the laws of nature and studying I've ended up only being able to think of matters not even tangentially related to that.
Today's thoughts are as follows:

Would the fact that a prospective partner does not want to have children, ever, affect your desire to initiate a relationship with them?
Say someone with your preferred set of genitalia has asked you out. The first few dates have gone swimmingly, and you are reasonably attracted to them. You are both interested in pursuing something more long-term. We're not talking marriage plans here though; just a regular boyfriend-girlfriend thing. There's commitment involved, but you don't consider them to be "the one", in other words.
However, the prospective partner just revealed that their plans for the future contain exactly zero offspring. Are you still interested in pursuing a somewhat proper relationship with this person?

Spoiler: Some clarifications:

The purpose of this poll here is to see how someone's stance on children will affect another person's choice of partner for a relationship that's not expected to make it to the point of marriage/civil union/relationship state where having children would be natural/whatever equivalent you feel like, jeez.

Basically: Whether the partner wants children or not is in reality largly irrelevant to the relationship, but I suspect their choice not to procreate might still turn many off the relationship; particularly women.
Because I'm a sexist pig, I guess.

Make note that I am not referring to a casual relationship. It is important that even though neither party honestly believes it'll last 'till marriage there is still commitment involved.

[sub]Yes, I am aware that the results will be rather skewed because of the escapist community.
Fucks given: Zero.
I'll compensate or something.
And I just realized my original poll options don't make sense in their formulation. Drat.[/sub]

 

[Gutkrusha]

I'd be fine with it, because I don't want children either.

 

[zehydra]

Well, I want children, but I've been in relationships where the lady doesn't want children, and then all of a sudden decides that she does, even after I've expressed that I'm ok with not having kids.

 

[SonicWaffle]

I thought from the thread title that this was another Skyrim thread. I was going to say yes, because I have to kill virtual children in order to get a boner.

Unfortunately, the thread is apparently not geared towards me or my severe emotional and sexual scars, so I'll just say I am undecided. Would quite like kids one day, also aware I'm too fucked up to be able to handle kids without pushing at least one of them out a window, so I'm not sure which poll option to take.

 

[DasDestroyer]

Wait, I'm slightly confused. The questions in your post are:

- No children: a turn-off?
- How would you feel about entering a (non-casual) relationship with a partner who does not want to have children, ever?
- Are you still interested in pursuing a somewhat proper relationship with this person?

And yet your answer options are "Yes, it would" and "No, it wouldn't", which do not fit any of the questions.

Sorry for being so fastidious, but I wouldn't want to pick the wrong option in your poll

Regardless, I'd be perfectly happy because I do not want children either.

 

[ThePerfectionist]

I'd be fine with it, because I don't want children either.

Pretty much this. I mean, I do want kids eventually, but not anytime soon (I'm 22 for fuck's sake). If I don't think this person is "the one", as you put it, then I definitely don't want kids with them, and if they don't want kids either, then that's actually an attractive quality, because it means I'm not going to be the only one paranoid about birth control.

 

[Jonluw]

Wait, I'm slightly confused. The questions in your post are:

- No children: a turn-off?
- How would you feel about entering a (non-casual) relationship with a partner who does not want to have children, ever?
- Are you still interested in pursuing a somewhat proper relationship with this person?

And yet your answer options are "Yes, it would" and "No, it wouldn't", which do not fit any of the questions.

Sorry for being so fastidious, but I wouldn't want to pick the wrong option in your poll

Regardless, I'd be perfectly happy because I do not want children either.

I know! I just noticed. I wrote the poll options with a differently formulated question in mind! Gah!

I've fixed it now though.

I'll see if I can add an "undecided" option as well.

 

[OmniscientOstrich]

I have no intention of producing spawn either, so the news would come as a huge relief more than anything.

 

[DasDestroyer]

Wait, I'm slightly confused. The questions in your post are:

- No children: a turn-off?
- How would you feel about entering a (non-casual) relationship with a partner who does not want to have children, ever?
- Are you still interested in pursuing a somewhat proper relationship with this person?

And yet your answer options are "Yes, it would" and "No, it wouldn't", which do not fit any of the questions.

Sorry for being so fastidious, but I wouldn't want to pick the wrong option in your poll

Regardless, I'd be perfectly happy because I do not want children either.

I know! I just noticed. I wrote the poll options with a differently formulated question in mind! Gah!

I've fixed it now though.

I'll see if I can add an "undecided" option as well.

Alright then! Voted with the appropriate option

 

[Muspelheim]

I have no interest in procreating, and I wouldn't have any problem at all with someone who doesn't want to either. Not only because children are... Demanding, but also because I doubt my genes would be much of a keeper. Plus, I'm not the one who will be stuck with it inside my body like a parasite (Gosh, mammals are weird, when you think about it) for nine months, I doubt I'd want to subject anyone I love to that.

And if I ever do have kids, I doubt anyone would be very impressed when I, say, send them off for school one cold winter day with a bottle of vodka each.

 

[Palademon]

I want children. I'd like to unleash my personal plague of rage unto the next generation, and I'm not letting myself be forced out of the genepool.

 

[JoJo]

All I have to say is FUCK THAT SHIT! I eventually want to have kids and could not see myself dating somebody who did not. I also could not see myself dating something that I didnt think I would be with in a year or two. If something is not going to last then what is the point in continueing on with it. The kids thing isnt a major dealbreaker though because people do change their mind and if they dont well "accidents" can happen.

This, I would consider keeping the relationship going at this point in my life simply because I'm many years away from reproduction and the chances are any current relationship won't be long term or that she'd change her mind in a few years time but still... they would go down in my eyes somewhat and I'd eventually end up looking else-where if they didn't change their mind. Also while you've hinted at it in the OP, Jonluw, you've been here long enough to know what the average Escapist is like with kids so don't expect a response representative of the general population

 

[Bluelaughter]

Yes, as I've always seen myself as becoming a father, though I'm not dead set on it. If the two people agree on it, discussions will go much easier than if both don't agree on it. It's a conversation that's bound to happen if the relationship goes long term.

 

[somonels]

Women can change their mind overnight and be absolutely adamant that it has always been that way.

 

[Blow_Pop]

Well if I am with a woman it is kind of impossible for us to get each other pregnant so it really wouldn't bother me.
And if I were with a man it still wouldn't bother me since I don't want children anyway. Maybe if I find the right guy and decide I do then I will but as of now, not a chance.

I use to date a guy who wanted kids(back in high school) and our reasoning for break up was that he wanted to get married after high school and have kids. He wound up finding a girl to date not long after and last I heard they were happily married with kids. And I'm happy for him. Now if the marines would let him come back home so we could have some more communication and I could meet his wife and kids I'd be really happy.

 

[Flight]

Absolutely not. I don't want children, nor have I ever wanted to have children. A partner informing me that they wanted them someday would, in fact, be a deal-breaker.

 

[Zantos]

I put yes it would. At my current stage in life it'd put me off if they wanted kids right now, however I would like to have kids in the future when I have a decent, stable job and a loving relationship. Also probably married, if I'm going to be the star of the show I don't want kids expenses ruining my saving up for the big day. When I get to that point it'd flip and I wouldn't really want to go into a long term relationship, and especially not marriage, with someone who didn't want kids.

 

[Ris]

You need to bold "We're not talking marriage plans here though" OP, because I totally didn't see it before I voted.

No, it would not bother me if he didn't want kids and I didn't feel like he was my "one".

Please bear in mind though that at my current age, if I knew with all certainty that he wasn't the "one", then any commitment I make would be totally casual and probably short-term. Why dedicate years of your life to someone that you know you're going to ditch someday? Doesn't seem very fair to them.