My dog is gone. It was sad to send him off but I slept better than I have in years last night. I don't think I came to any real conclusions about my ability to raise mammals, humans included. I guess I wonder what life's going to be like for a kid in 10 or 20 years.

The term Childfree is used to describe people who choose not to have children. Here are some of the reasons they cite:

• Concern regarding environmental factors and/or overpopulation.
• Desire for increased free time.
• Desire for decreased financial responsibility.
• Perceived incapacity to be a responsible parent.
• Fear that parenthood, being an irrevocable state, will be disliked.
• Lack of biological urges to procreate.

I don't believe overpopulation is a problem, in fact, most 1st world countries can't sustain their populations without immigration. I like free time a lot but I don't subscribe the the idea that it takes a heck of a lot of money to raise a kid correctly at least in the sense that dysfunction doesn't seem to care about socio-economic class. I think I'd make a good parent but the chance that the marriage would die seems like too great a risk because I've been through an ugly divorce as a kid and it absolutely sucked.

Here's an idea. Our current Western conception of marriage isn't universal, in fact one of my professors argued that the current American nuclear family was promoted by corporations in the early 20th century to make relocation easier for hapless working stiffs. So the reason my childhood sucked was because I'd put all of my hope and faith in an emotional institution designed by business majors(of which I am one). Had I lived with an extended family and been raised by uncles, cousins, grandparents etc. it would have been a lot easier to deal with the separation of my parents. So I'm not anti-kid after all, just wary of the environment(marriage) I'm supposed to raise him in.

I'll leave you with some humor. Here are some slang terms from the Childfree movement...

• BNP: "Breeder, Not Parent"; a "breeder" in the specific sense (see below).
• Breeder: Generally, someone who has, or intends to have, children. Is often used in a more specific sense to refer to obnoxious parents (in contrast with "parent", below).
• Parent: One with children who behaves in a non-obnoxious manner regarding their children, and is considered to have raised those children well. (Some Childfree persons do not make the distinction between this and "breeder", above.)
• PNB: "Parent, Not Breeder"; a "parent" (see above).
• Sprog: A child.