Life's Negotiations

The following is my reply to an article in Huffington Post's Living section on a newlywed couple decision about having children.

Tamsen - thank you for expressing what quite a few of us married 30-somethings only whisper about at cocktail parties (where we hope our pregnant and mom friends can't hear us). Being happy shouldn't be about kids or not, you're absolutely right. And it shouldn't be assumed what your decision is before you've made it.

Deciding about being a mother feels like a taboo subject. Speaking for women here and not the guys, why can't we support each other - no matter whether we're mothers, are having trouble getting pregnant, haven't made up our minds yet, or decided against having children. Who better to understand the decision and all it entails than another woman.

My response to a blog this week in the Huffington Post about the U.S. birth rate and pressure being put on women about motherhood:

Hi Elizabeth - thanks for deciphering the birth rate statistics, and for bringing to light the pressure put on women to have children NOW.

I often hear from fellow women in their early 30's that, "I better start now." Not I *want* to start now, but almost that they are giving in. You know I'm not getting any younger (at 32) and my biological clock is ticking (for another decade), so I guess now is a good time. You guess?