Our DINK Philosophy
My husband and I met and fell in love before learning the full depth of our dreams, goals and desires; as it should be. When the romantic dust settled, we learned that we both saw a child-free, non-car, living-within-the-means existence as the way to go.
He's 20+ years into his profession and comfortable with his financial place in the world. I am 5+ years in to my professional life and content with mine as well.
We've chosen to live in an urban setting where we can walk or bike to food, entertainment, work, and shopping. If we need to drive we use our household car-sharing membership and share a white-knuckled drive to parts beyond our city limits; seriously, I haven't owned a car since 2006 and he hasn't had one for over 20 years---it's scary when either of us drive.
Keeping our carbon footprints small is definitely important. In addition to keeping driving to a minimum we only fly once a year, and try to buy locally sourced foods and domestically produced goods; this part is definitely a challenge.
Is It Selfish?
In conversation with friends who've chosen to become parents, we often hear a variation of the phrase, 'we want to have a baby of our own,' or' we want part of me and my partner'. It seems that folks feel strongly about spreading their genetic material and /or having a beautiful little mini-me on which to dote. We believe this to be both tedious and selfish.We haven't completely given up on the idea being parents--we just have no desire to birth biological children.
Think about it, if a couple is both highly educated and financially secure it's important the they share their lives with children through fostering, mentoring, and even adoption. In our world where the population is booming and there is a shortage of loving caring parents, it's imperative that people who can choose to mentor, foster, and adopt kids who'd have little chance of a decent life otherwise--rather than giving birth to biological kids... It's common sense, really.
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