🎶I saw the sign and it opened up my eyes!🎶
Who else is a ‘90s child?
Last Sunday, I was working on my childfree lifestyle website and wondering if anyone was finding it useful.
“I need to know!” I said out loud as I adjusted SEO settings. Moments later, my inbox dinged.
It was an email asking to interview me for the website Her Normal. As it happens, the creator discovered my site and also used the Childfree Journaling Prompts eBook. She’s currently childfree and feeling the pressure to try for a child.
Whenever you create something, you dream that people find it valuable. Choosing not to have kids is a very personal, private process. Most often, content creators make free giveaways in exchange for email signups. It’s a common and effective list-building tool.
But, I decided I wanted to keep that eBook link open to anyone, no strings attached. I have no idea who has used it or how many. So to hear that someone found it helpful totally made my day. My week, actually.
99% of the childfree content I make is free. The childfree-themed paperback journals are the product I sell which covers the costs of The Bitchy Bookkeeper operations.
The journaling prompt eBook will always be free and available 24/7. I have my sign that it’s helpful to some, and sometimes that’s all you need to keep going.
Also, the fact that you’re reading this keeps me going on this childfree content creation path.
So, thank you!
Being selfless sucks!
Don’t believe me? Ask my brother, Evan-a a single dad of 2! The latest episode of our podcast collab Accidental Parenthood is available now on iTunes/Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, and most major podcast apps.
Click on the image to listen in your browser.
If podcasts aren’t your thing, my brother shares how putting his needs last was detrimental to his health and family. His first year of parenthood wasn’t pretty. This episode is 17 minutes long, and Evan reveals the new-parent struggles rarely shared on social media.
2021 Virtual Childfree Conference
Part of my responsibility as PR Manager for this conference is to create graphics for social media. We are all volunteering our time, and people can help spread the word by sharing the graphic with their childfree networks. Every share helps!
My creative productivity has doubled since I got this new iPad Pro. Just because, I bought the Apple Pencil, and now I use it every day to create images. I don’t do any drawing or sketching in the traditional sense, but since getting the Procreate app and an iPad, I’m learning new skills.
I spend hours colouring on a screen.
Therapeutic AF!
OMG, a childfree colouring book! I need to make this!
Childfree gatekeeping, what?!
When someone says, “ I’m childfree,” what does that mean to you?
This was the topic for the LIVE episode we did on the Childfree Girls podcast this last week. I’ve stated that my content is from the POV of not ever wanting kids at any point in MY life. No step, bio, foster, or fur.
But, what about childfree stepparents? Childfree after infertility? What about childfree by chance?
Have you ever had a conversation with someone about being childfree, and at the end, they tell you, “Oh, I have step-kids” or “ I’m actually going through IVF”?
I’ve had this happen numerous times.
It’s taught me to vet people before agreeing to collaborations. I do have to ask questions about their childfree status. Someone who is childfree but wanted/tried for children in the past will have a different tone than someone who has never wanted kids. It may be a subtle difference, but there is a difference. This isn’t gatekeeping, however. This is setting boundaries.
Everyone has a different perspective on what it means to be childfree so it was a great conversation. You can click on the image to watch the unedited replay of this discussion. It’s 35 minutes long.
Also available on all major podcast apps.
Childfree pick-of-the-week
OMG, ok, I LOVED this video from Weird Confessions Uganda. This is such a fantastic conversation about being childfree in a vastly different part of the world than where I live (Canada).
I. LOVED. THIS.VIDEO!
Final Thoughts
I wish I could tell you the magic formula to cure loneliness if you’re feeling it. It’s easy for me to be by myself at home all the time because I’m in this bubble of creativity and, for the first time, collaborating with others.
I used to feel alone in my childfree choice. Writing about my choice on a blog was the first step to erasing that feeling. Some of you would rather have in-person interaction with other CF people, and that’s cool.
I have met other CF in real life by saying out loud, “I don’t have children, by choice.”
Sure, the people you say this to might look at you funny, but you never know who is listening. Your next childfree BFF may be around the corner!
Until next time,
LeNora Faye