I. Don’t. Want. Children. Got that? Sheila O’Flanagan has always known she’d make a terrible mother. If only she could convince others of the fact…

In the days before you weren’t allowed to say such things, my then boss - a married man in the investment bank where I worked as a foreign exchange dealer - told me that promoting women was a big risk because they’d go off and have babies.

I exploded with rage, told him he was an old dinosaur and then (maybe mindful that I was the only woman in the dealing room and worried about my own job) told him he didn’t need to concern himself about me because I had no intention of having any children myself…

There are many jobs in the world that people aren’t suitable for, but nobody ever seems to think that parenting is one of them…

I have never made any bones about my lack of interest in becoming a mother, but reactions to that can be mixed and sometimes quite angry…

I am told that I’ll regret it in the future. Sometimes bleak pictures are painted of me being alone and uncared for, bitterly sorry for my ’selfishness’.

But having children doesn’t guarantee being cared for in later life, and if that’s the only reason for having them, it’s a terribly selfish one…

Source: Telegraph.co.uk
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