how pandemic made me think seriously about ageing without creating a family

[h1h1h1h1]

As pandemic continued,friends started to meet parents ,adult children inside,particularly Christmas 2020 and 2021. Obviously love is strong ,however., made me question could i risk in early days of pandemic life of my husband with respiratory issues to meet up with nieces/step daughters etc of sisters in law etc. The conclusion i came to was no. I realised to find yourself further out on a branch and not have adult children that you would risk everything to visit ,made me think how pandemic had thrown up new issues unique to these times. Wondered if anyone else in fifties,sixties or older thought this. Certainly increased isolation feeling for us a s a couple.

[hertsmeets Volunteer]

Hi there, I know that many of us in the childless community feel the same about ageing without children and there is certainly more conversation about it. There are some great resources: World Childless Week focused on this topic in 2020 and there are some great resources here: worldchildlessweek.net/agei...

and Jody Day at gateway-women.com/childless... has a project to support and raise awareness of this issue - she hosts regular webinars.

Ageing well without children is also a super organisation who are looking at this: awwoc.org/

Also New Legacy Radio is trying to raise more awareness and has some good podcasts: voiceamerica.com/episode/14....

I can also recommend Kate Kaufmann (who is a member of Gateway/Lighthouse Women)'s book 'Do you have kids? Life when the answer is no@ who talks about ageing without children and support measures, for a large part of the book: katekaufmann.com/

As a childless community this is an important topic for us and something many are concerned about, so please do connect with others in the community as there is a lot of discussion and support out there within the childless community.