Most things childfree people get meaning out of are canceled until further notice. You still have your parenthood. What do we get? Extra work for equal pay? Great, that'll make the pandemic suck less.
If everyone was childless, applying Kant's categorical imperative, I think the societal issues would be obvious, as society would cease to exist within 90 years or less. If not everyone can be childless then morally some sufficient amount of people must have children.
The fact that the parents do it for themselves doesn't reduce its importance or benefit to society. It's just a fortunate alignment of incentives.
The problem I see is that further accommodating parents isn't enshrined in law. Parenting is essential work that is undervalued because it is passionate labor.
Most adults without children grasp this perfectly fine, and it's one of the primary reasons why they have chosen not to have children.
I also love all of these things. I'm sorry you're bored.
> Most things childfree people get meaning out of are canceled until further notice.
Not really. Consider the following:
- Athletics: running, hiking, boating, bicycling
- Social Activity: responsible, socially-distant, get-togethers with your best friends
- Engineering: personal electronics projects, programming projects, automotive projects
- Entertainment: read a book, watch a movie, catch up on some TV
edit: To be clear, I think a major problem with this discussion is how it's being framed as a zero-sum game: either parents work more or non-parents work more. I believe smarter companies and better bosses will try to keep pressure off their employees.
The examples you gave are the day to day things that childfree (& single) people are doing. None of those things involve meeting new people, which is exactly what is causing that emptiness.
Trips, concerts, bars, etc are the kinds of special occasion that motivate the single person to make it through the week. I can continue running, continue having Zoom parties, continue programming for fun (when I'm not mentally burnt out from work), continue watching TV. But there's no discovery or excitement in this routine. It becomes meaningless
In fact, I found GP's situation to be quite relatable, and was relaying what I've been doing (or am planning to do) in lieu of going out.
Perhaps I should have added something to this effect: there is meaning in personal enrichment. Now is a terrible time for meeting new people, but it's also an opportunity for self-improvement and for exploring new hobbies.
The pandemic has actually been great for my physical health. I picked up cycling and have gone (solo) hiking and backpacking more than ever, looking forward to my gym opening with reservations. On the other hand, my apartment's walls are littered with relics of past concerts, trips, friends nights - rich social moments. I crave those moments again. Many of these cancellations and closures disproportionally affect childless people, because, as many of the other commentators have noted, children fill a lot of the time that would otherwise be spent doing those canceled or closed activities.
As an aside, it doesn't help that a lot of the aforementioned activities are predicated on the entire state of California not being a large smoke cloud right now (With many of the National Forests, for example, closed).
Quite fair. I live on the East Coast and that never crossed my mind.
As for the rest, I'll copy my above reply:
I don't have children (never want children) and wasn't trying to trivialize being bored.
In fact, I found GP's situation to be quite relatable, and was relaying what I've been doing (or am planning to do) in lieu of going out.
Perhaps I should have added something to this effect: there is meaning in personal enrichment. Now is a terrible time for meeting new people, but it's also an opportunity for self-improvement and for exploring new hobbies.