Is it normal to not want a family?

Post Reply New Topic

Since I was young I never wanted a family. Other kids would play and pretend to have there own children but I never did. I never even wanted to be married. The thought was not even possible for me. When I reached adulthood I did not have the desire to get married and start a family like others my age. Now that I'm in my forties I wonder what happened and why I did not want do these things. It is if I just some how lived life without really noticing what was going on around me. I seem to be so caught up in my own thoughts that I have a hard time seeing what is really happening around me. I can see the obvious mechanic's of things but I can't see everything. There seems to be some sort of filter that only allows me to see certain things. The world seems so strange and I'm some how disconnected. It is like when you have two machines that are connected to a network and there is a problem and you need to reboot both of them. Somehow when they power back up they lose connection. This is what life seems like to me. I was once connected and I lost connection and never was able to reconnect.

I can relate to that. I don't think I've ever been connected to the world. What's normal and is happening to other people around me doesn't seem to have anything to do with me. And I wasn't really aware of what other people around my age have been doing in their lives. Getting married and having kids? Well, that's for other people, not for me. It's as if I lived in a different dimension that happens to overlap with 'normal people's' dimension. I feel I'm not meant to participate in their world.

Nothing's wrong with not wanting a family. What's wrong is those people that think something is wrong with those that never get married or have kids.

I've never had the desire to have a family for very obvious reasons. There are stupid little roles that each person has to fill and I'm not one for gender roles. I'm better off alone. I can fill the roles that I want, this way.

I've never have wanted one either and the divide is quickly growing, Facebook keeps me informed with this. I think part of it is a fear of the lifelong responsibility and the permanent change in lifestyle combined with the fact that I just don't see the point in why I would want a family of my own. What is important is my interests keeping any distractions clear of them.

I don't.

I'm 48, don't have a family, don't want one. In my twenties, I thought I might want a family because everyone said how happy it makes you, so I figured if everyone said it then it must be true. but I could never imagine myself married, and the thought scared me. I'm glad I didn't. it would probably make me miserable.

I feel completely disconnected from everyone around me and always had, since I can remember myself. I feel like I'm walking in a fog, and this world is completely unreal to me. I'm just floating in it. other people are robots or aliens, or both. I have no idea what they're thinking or feeling, or if they are actually capable of real feeling. I don't know what is real and what isn't, so I can relate to what you wrote.

I don't want a family either. If the opportunity was there to have a relationship with someone I possibly would, but at this point in time I really don't want that either.

I'm content with being a loner for the time being.

I don't know if it's normal, but I guess that's not important. I used to play house from time to time as a kid, but only when a girl asked me to. When I got a little older I decided I didn't want to get married or have children, and I still feel that way. A lot of people who do are making lifelong commitments they're not ready for, and I won't make the same mistake.