Okay, so here are my honest and true thoughts on children...(brought on by a visit of my cousin and her devil children and the birth of my other too-young cousin's first child: all descending on me yesterday to confuse my thoughts and make me run away from the sheer volume of it all)

They truly have the potential to make someone's life miserable for the rest of their life. And even if they aren't the spawn of Satan (he's been roaming in the guise of the milkman again...) they take a lot of work, dedication, and selflessness. At this point, I don't feel that I am or ever will be in the right state of mind to become a parent. There is also the physical pain that is involved with the whole process.

On the other hand, what would I do when I got old if I had never had children. I would HATE to be dependent on my children the way my grandparents are on theirs, but most of their social life also revolves around their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Let's face it, when you get old, your friends start to die on you, unless you can be lucky enough to go first. ...

And I guess in my future planning, unconsciously, children are always involved, though a long, long time from now. But then, even if I did eventually want and have children, there is always the fear that they would turn out to be horrible serial killers or something. And then I would have to blame myself and feel all guilty. I'm not even exaggerating about one of the devil children being of the devil. She almost died when young and had to go through a liver transplant at 6-months-old and, as a result, was spoiled literally rotten. She never listens to anyone, tells blatant lies when asked direct questions regarding her actions, physically harms her mother when she tries to restrain her, and is an all around brat. Doesn't hurt that she's the only girl in a pack of boys. If I were her mother, I'd have to do something drastic, either to her or myself.

If I do decide to have children, and I have a sneaking suspicion that I won't be able to avoid it, I guess I'll just have to find a way to get past the pain and do the best I can to not raise maniacal hooligans. Either that or do what Grace did: marry into children who are already providing grandchildren.