My thoughts exactly!  I have a friend here who never wanted to be a mom.  She's gotten a LOT of pressure from people, especially from her church because "Go forth and multiply". One of our mutual acquaintances asked me once why this friend doesn't have kids.  I said she doesn't want kids.  She says "I thought she was Christian!"  And that was the HIGH point of the conversation. I figure that it's hard enough to be a parent when you really WANT to be one...same with marriage!  If it's not something you really really want, don't do it!  I get that a lot being a stay at home mom, too. (I do have a part time job, but it's not what I'd considered a career) "Why don't you go to work?  Women fought really hard for you to have the right to have a job and you're going to waste it by staying home?" And my thought is that no, they didn't fight for  me to have the right to have a job...they fought for me to have the CHOICE to get a job.  And I would rather stay home with my kids.  If you choose to go have a career, go for it!  I think that's great.  But if you choose not to, I think that's great, too.  Life is too short to be forced into choosing something that will have lifelong consequences, just because it's what someone ELSE wants.