As someone who isn’t going to have kids and doesn’t want them, I still get the growing old alone concern.
It’s not that I would have wanted children to take care of me, but that I don’t trust the social safety system in the U.S.
Even if things are going well, it’s still a terrifying proposition. My first job ever was as a dietary aid at a mid-level retirement home, and while some of the people there were thriving (namely the folks who somehow managed to go into the home with their partners), the majority were a study of what happens when the ability to live exceeds the will. It was a formative experience.
And why I’m in therapy and desperately scared that between neurodivergence and trauma, that I’m not going to be one of those really social old people with friends everywhere that care for them and keep them company. Although I think it’s not a given that kids will automatically be there for you as you age, I can see the appeal of doing what you can to hedge your bets. It’s a terrifying world out there, and we only have each other.
TheBat@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Why are you expecting your kids to be your caretakers?
And what if they move to another country for work? You’re still growing old alone.
Wizard_Pope@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I am not. I just see how much better my grandparents lives are with their kids and grandkids that they get to see often.
Not as alone as if I never had any family. I also have 2 brothers so they might have kids and worse case scenario they remember I exist.