What do you say to people without offspring who are pessimistic?

I used to hate the thought that any of my DDs might emigrate. Now I feel differently about my DGC, and I attribute this more to my pessimism about the future for the young in this country than to my greater remove from them.

If the doom-saying attitude had been prevalent during WW2 many of us would not be here at all. And a great difference between then and now is that during WW2 there were leaders advocating hope. Where are they now?

I'd tell them that they are probably right, and I worry for my DCs and my DGCs, not just because of global warming but because many of the solutions we once thought we had to society's problems have proved to be no such thing. And I worry for my family and the future, but that said I wouldn't change them for anything and certainly don't regard having them as a mistake.
If it was someone I really didn't particularly like I might follow up with "Do you regret not having children?"

However I will not be here to mollycoddle them.
A bit harsh there biglouis as these kids might be the future nurses or delivery drivers who serve your needs!

You could reverse the question OP and ask “what do you say to people with offspring who are so optimistic”.
However, the world has many more people who have children. The majority of them feel it’s their right to make all kinds of comments and judgments as well as offer un-requested advice about those who are childless throughout their lives.
It’s probably more sensitive and positive to smile and nod, rather than offer yet more in welcome comment.

I don't agree with the assumption that those without children are more pessimistic. Why? A lot of children aren't planned, after all - and many couples can't have them.

I'm also amazed by all the references to the past. You can't look ahead when looking backwards. What happened in the past is irrelevant to the threat of global destruction, except, perhaps, to indicate that not enough will be done to slow it.

I have no time for these doomsday worriers. The fact that they don't have children doesn't mean the world won't go on. Thank goodness for past and future generations of chemists and scientists. The world always has done and always will need further generations. As am old Glasgow radio programme used to say " we never died a winter yet".

I was a foster mother for a while and had 4 children of my own. To be brutally honest I never even thought about not having children because of the nuclear threat as it was then. The gift of life is wonderful even if it is short. Young children are just so full of the joy of life and even if something awful happens they will still leave their mark in the world. Several of my children and grandchildren work in helping professions ( doctor,nurse, social worker) so I feel they are giving back as well as taking what life offers.

Every generation has its own set of problems, my parents and their parents went through wars which impacted greatly on their lives.

We live in a badly broken world with many problems and I would hate to be young now.

I would say to these pessimists that when my parents married in 1947 quite a lot of their contempories felt that this world was not a place for children and abstained from having any.

Everyone has the right to make that choice, or to choose to have children. I have always been glad that my parents brought me into this world, and it was no voluntary choice on my behalf that led to adopting a child, rather than giving birth myself.

Every generation faces challenges, difficulties and hardship - this is part of the human condition. Today we know more about the global threats due to the constant world-wide media.

But do you honestly think the generations who brought children up in a world where there was no penicillan, few vaccines etc. were less concerned than we are?

Our grandchildren and great-grandchildren's generations might just be the ones to rid the world of famine and war, after all.

Please try to be just a little optimistic!

The world was in a far worse place in 1939! There's a very good interview with Ian Hislop broadcast on Xmas Eve where he puts things into perspective. Worth a watch if you have iPlayer.

Daisymae, I'd share their pessimism, to be frank - even as a mother, grandmother etc. they make a valid point.

Where's the evidence for your (hopelessly optimistic) statement:

'every generation has its challenges and they will find ways through' ??

You seem to assume that we all agree with you.

What I say to anyone who is pessimistic about humanity: check out positive news at places like ourworldindata.org and humanprogress.org

I was the child of a hasty marriage (back in the 1930s if a woman fell pregnant her boyfriend had little choice but to marry her if they were both single) as I suffered for it. I dont think my father was ready for the responsibility of parenthood and it showed in the way I was treated.

I made an assertive choice not to have children and have never regretted it. I never wanted another human clinging onto me for years and years. I was also unselfish enough to realise that I would be a harsh parent who brought up my children "hard".

I strongly disagree with todays soft and helecopter parenting. I wonder how todays kids will have the backbone and resilliance to cope with whats to come. However I will not be here to mollycoddle them.

I think each to his/her/their own. Personally my life is richer, more fulfilled and sometimes exciting having children. My husband and I each had a child before meeting and now share three others, so have five between us, youngest is 20, oldest is 38, and we have one grandchild, we wouldn’t swap any of them and I’m fine with others choosing not to have children and emphasise with those who desperately wanted children. I do have “friends” who make negative comments about our large family, I ignore them and count my blessing

My husband died aged 47 in 2004 from cancer. I was 45 and he made me promise to live the best life I can and I do it's not easy without him but that promise and the others ones I made him mean I can get through each day on my own . He was my other half of myself and haven't been whole since he took his final breath.

There are only two certainties in life we are born and we die. The rest is up to us. To many people die young . And we must live our lives to the full as we only have one life yes it's full of obstacles along the way but I believe what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

So I say to you all live the best life you can. Merry Christmas to you all and get through today the best way you can not matter your circumstances it's only one day. The chocolate box view of Christmas day is a myth. So just do what feels right for you . ❤️🌲🎁🥂🥂🎅

Ilovecheese

I feel that life is such a gift that we should just take a chance and grab it with both hands.

That’s a wonderful attitude 🥰

I would tell them that having offspring can make you pessimistic too.

My son cut me off and I lost my GC, just because I cannot help him in his criminal endeavors. So I have done "the right thing" and still lost out.

I feel it's doomsaying. One thing for certain we will all die eventually.

My GGM outlived 3 of her 8 DC and said she was glad to be able to be at their deathbeds. That sounds most unnatural to me but it was obviously a comfort to her.

We find ways of coping with adversity and our DC and DGC will too.

AGAA4

MOnica has a good point. Doom is nigh has been going on for a long time. Life has always been risky. There have always been wars and diseases and other natural disasters but we are still here.
I have GCs and have to hope they will be as resilient as our ancestors.

Looking over history and around the world = for ever - life has been mostly very precarious for most people. Its just that in our time in parts of the West we have come to expect more.

I dont like to ask DS about how they feel about it, they had 4, because one child is very disabled and might not live beyond 20's...but I'd be interested in their answer..

....pretty sure it would be the same as my parents' mantra, "being in the world means trying to make it a better place".

and that has to be of course climate change issues.

My father was born during WW1, my mother just before it.
I, my sister and DH were born during WW2.
Our children were born at the height of the Cold War.
My grandchildren have been born into global warming.

We were quite carefree when younger but when I tell my daughter that I think it's a difficult world now, compared to then, she has pointed out much that is better.
Perhaps every generation has its challenges.

MOnica has a good point. Doom is nigh has been going on for a long time. Life has always been risky. There have always been wars and diseases and other natural disasters but we are still here.
I have GCs and have to hope they will be as resilient as our ancestors.

I feel that life is such a gift that we should just take a chance and grab it with both hands.

Oldnproud

" I am so glad I had my children, but not sure I would today. I certainly would think very hard. '

I feel the same, Fleurpepper.

I think that is why I used the words 'if' and 'able'. Nothing in life is written in stone.

People have been doom saying since time begun. Back in the 1960s people were saying the same things about not having children because it wasn't fair to have children when they were going to be bombed out of life or into terrible illness at any moment.

It was said in the 1930s under the shadow of Hitler and war. Yet life has rolled forward. Once Global warning is dealt with, the doomsayares will find something else to worry about.