I've often encountered people who've told me that my desire to not have children is immoral in some way; that I'm being selfish. It's not a perspective I agree with at all, and I know several other people with kids (that they wanted to have) tell me there is nothing wrong with not wanting kids.
I've heard people make a moral case for having children, but I've never heard people implying others are mentally ill for not wanting them.
It does get into deeper questions about what are mental illnesses; how some illnesses warp our perception and cause delusions, but others are just things we've socially evolved to think as unacceptable because they cause harm. Homosexuality was once a mental illness, and now it's not.
Maybe if Earth's population takes a big hit and we're under 1 billion again, I could see some case to be made for society to adopt procreation above all else; but today .. we've moved past that .. and I agree; not wanting children or regretting having children is not a mental illness at all!
I've heard people make a moral case for having children, but I've never heard people implying others are mentally ill for not wanting them.
It does get into deeper questions about what are mental illnesses; how some illnesses warp our perception and cause delusions, but others are just things we've socially evolved to think as unacceptable because they cause harm. Homosexuality was once a mental illness, and now it's not.
Maybe if Earth's population takes a big hit and we're under 1 billion again, I could see some case to be made for society to adopt procreation above all else; but today .. we've moved past that .. and I agree; not wanting children or regretting having children is not a mental illness at all!