A choice for a childfree lifestyle even a couple of generations ago would have been looked upon as eccentric, but not so in the current world. Usually childfree couples several decades ago were not so by choice, and adoption was a common way for those couples who could not bear children to solve this issue. At that time in history, there was a strong focus in society on the family unit and what the perfect family was composed of, how they acted, what they should look like...media fed this prototype heavily around the 1950s and tended to make anyone who differentiated from this ideal feel strange and unwelcome. Now, in modern society, the ideas surrounding marriage and family life have morphed into something near blasphemous when compared with the mentality of the 1950s. Today, people tend to marry later, divorce more often, and have less or no children.
Childfree couples sometimes have no control over this choice. Something, for some reason, simply happens and they cannot conceive. Instead of the anguish of the past, some couples either accept fate and remain childfree or they adopt. Fertility drugs and testing is an option now that did not exist in the past. Now, more than ever, fertility can solve the problems surrounding conception. Other factors come into play when child conception is not so much a focus as the structure of relationships can be. Now, people marry later and tend to be divorced more frequently, and instead of a happy home life many people spend endless hours absorbed in their work. An average person marries later in life and will be married several times before they die. Usually people who have had divorced parents tend to put off child rearing until they are fully comfortable in a relationship, which may be years after the beginning of the marriage if ever. Many remember the heartache of a 'broken' childhood and are reluctant to inflict such a thing on their own children. If this is not the issue, then simply putting off marriage until later in life can limit the time in which a couple has to conceive a child. Simply put, they start too late and are fighting biology.
Some couples might favor a childfree lifestyle simply because they feel no need for a child. They have become used to the comfort of each other and the thought of adding a baby to the mix seems chaotic. Their choice is not a negative one, but is common today because of the career focuses of some couples and the demands of a hectic lifestyle simply do not accommodate having a baby. Simply put, a baby is not logical and does not fit. Both parties are fully engaged in the relationship, but there is little time to detract from each other by having a mutual distraction--a baby. The need for a cooing mass of love and tears does not seem logical at that moment. Sometimes this changes over time, but if it does not then it is no big deal to many couples as the focus of life is not so primarily on raising children. Life satisfaction can be achieved through means other than child rearing. Child rearing should also be a mutual choice in the relationship. And time should be a deciding factor, in relation to proper timing and availablitily for the child.
Another term for being childless is a fence sitter. The definition of the fence sitters is someone who takes a neutral position on a topic. In this case, a fence sitter would be someone who is neutral on the subject of having children and may not be fully interested in perpetuating the cycle of life, for whatever reason. Usually a fence sitter is someone involved in a controversial matter. Child rearing can be controversial, and many people get upset at those who challenge traditional values.
Why would someone forgo having offspring? Many reasons. Perhaps they cannot economically accommodate a child in a way that they see fit. Fertility, of course, can be another problem. Sometimes a career can be too demanding and the potential parents involved do not want to subject a child to what they perceive to be neglect. Fear can play a role, either fear of hurting the child in some way or of not being an adequate parent. Some are simply not ready and do not have the time to manage other small things in life, let alone the demands of a baby. Any of these reasons are acceptable, and even those who might think an adult is being selfish by refraining from having children or trying to wait for the optimal time in the lifespan should consider that the child might thrive under more positive circumstances if it were wanted and desired by the parents. That is not to say that sometimes the most surprising accidents result in the greatest of joys.
A child can bring joy and happiness, and a sense of fulfillment like nothing else can bring. Only when the parents are ready or can be adjusted to the idea of a surprise of a baby should such a joy be conceived. There are no rules that state that a couple must conceive, but there should be a rule that children should only be allowed to thrive under the happiest and best circumstances possible. If that means a couple makes the wiser choice of being childless than bringing a being into a world less than happy and satisfactory, then so be it.