Hacker News Reader

Comment by throwawaysleep | Hacker News Reader

I ponder this question myself on the edge of Gen Z and my life is simplified tremendously if I just essentially pause it in high earning young person mode.

Money is abundant for travel and anything I want. I don't need to figure out dating. Means I don't need to figure out everything from conflict resolution to clothing. I don't need to struggle to buy a ton of housing. I have friends/a sister who will have kids I can just play rich uncle to. I can retire decades early due to overemployment and spend an absurd amount of money every year doing whatever I want.

The Peter Pan life has a lot going for it.

View on HN

One day you'll be having a conversion with someone who obviously does have kids and when they finally come up for breath whilst telling you all about them, they'll ask if you have kids too.

Be prepared for an odd reaction when you say no, like you just admitted to having a contagious ailment, or something equally unpleasant.

Be further prepared for these kinds of conversations to become very common as you get older too.

I mean, GP could just say "I'm LGBT" and shut down the thing you're referring to (or at least, make it imprudent for a coworker to discriminate on that basis)

you can say, "due to personal reasons" or "i cant have kids" or "my partner cant have kids" or "we keep trying but keep having miscarriages" or you can just say you dont want to, and stop caring so much what other people think.

What about your paternal instincts/need to progenate?

I'm gen z as well and I definitely want to be a father one day because to me, it is instinctual - something I need to do for fulfilment.

Monetary hurdles (and a terrible online dating environment) doesn't help of course and I'm assuming most people in my generation are in the same boat.

My sex drive so far has not been sufficient for me to ever date anyone, so parenthood is more of an intellectual/emotional closeness/personal project interest.

The instinct exists, but has never caused me to do anything about it before.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com