What brings you to this sub?

I find this sub to be interesting as someone who has never followed the philosophy closely. My mom would likely have been a member of this philosophy if it wasn't for my dad. Like my dad, I also have a kid. Love it. Respect others who don't want a kid.

I feel really weird about the subject. I recognize that bringing a kid into this world is a tough decision for some. The world is a place plauged by hardship and suffering. Despite this, I'm glad to be here and I could never regret having my daughter.

What really motivated me to reach out to you is to understand the need for this place to begin with. There is no real pressure to reproduce if you so choose. The people in your life whose relationships are contingent on your reproductive status are not worth your time. I recognize my gap in knowledge, but I feel like there might be a strong sense of insecurity driving people here.

Specifically, I was reading a post about how some parents are secretly resentful due to jealousy of childfree lifestyle. I think there is truth there, but not to the extent people here would lead me to believe. I saw a comment discuss how much they hate when parents post pics of their children or how much they don't care. Some chimed in saying it was for validation. Some said it would be like if they were flexing their childless lifestyle.

I got really curious about these sentiments. I personally relate to the parents in this instance. I don't post my daughter ever, but there is a real sense of pride I have for how far my baby has come. I know my family adores her, and would be absolutely joyed to see her grow up since they don't live close. I felt like the comments had a sense of projection stemming from an insecurities of not having children. Why would you be interpreting posts to be flexes about having kids, specifically? Why does it trigger such a negative response to see kids posted online? Again, I don't for privacy reasons, but this wasn't clearly communicated in what I had read. It was a chain of bitterness stemming from parents occasionally sharing their kids online.

I kept reading more. I have a kid and felt like a lot of comments were broadly painting a target on every parent. The language was accusatory and devoid of any philosophy. It seemed more like an outlet. Maybe it isn't all parents, but the pesky relatives and coworkers who ask when you're getting married or having kids. It's really not quite clear. I probably could have kept this shorter, but I'm kinda trying to shine a light on something deeper.

I'm sure many of you would make great parents, so I know many aren't choosing a child free life for that reason. Even so, I feel like the philosophy itself depends on a very bleak perspective on life, which really wasn't the tone I felt reading the comments here either.

Having children is unethical according to the sub's description, does that mean the extinction of humankind the only ethical path forwards? I'm sure I'm missing something here, but I'm just really curious and trying to feel things out. Sorry for potentially enflaming some of you.