In her article Childfree Adults: Selfish or Selfless, Dr. Ellen Walker references my post Proudly Childfree and Not Apologizing For It in her response to Ross Douthat’s op-ed on the selfishness of childfree people. In response to Douthat’s opinion that childfee people don’t want to commit, she point’s out that parents do not always make commitments themselves:

Douthat implies that childfree adults are unable to commit, or that parents are somehow unique in their ability to do so. As a psychologist, I meet parents on a daily basis who have as many as five or six children, and who – sadly – feel no obligation to provide financially or emotionally for their offspring. This is surprisingly true of both dads and moms and blows the theory that parents will instinctively prioritize protecting and caring for their offspring.

Read the rest of her article for a much more nuanced look at the choice to have children or not from a psychological framework. Dr. Walker has written the book, Complete Without Kids: An Insider’s Guide to Childfree Living By Choice Or By Chance.

Thank you for the shout out Dr. Walker!