No one regrets having a child, or so it’s said. I’ve heard this often, usually after I’m asked if I have children, then, when I say I don’t, if I plan to. I tend to evade the question, as I find that the truth—I have no plans to be a parent—is likely to invite swift dissent. I’ll be told that I’ll change my mind, that I’m wrong, and that while I’ll regret not having a child, people don’t regret the obverse. Close family, acquaintances, and total strangers have said this for years; I let it slide, knowing that at the very least, the last part is a fiction.
It is, unsurprisingly, a challenge to get solid data on this issue, but a 2023 study estimated that up to 5% to 14% of parents in so-called developed countries, including the U.S., regret their decision to have children. This aligns with what I’ve found in my
