The right time to start a family varies from person to person. Some want to have children as soon as possible. Others focus on their careers before deciding to settle down, whilst others decide it’s not for them. The bottom line is that when – or if – it happens, it happens.
Twenty-nine-year-old Holly Brockwell from London says that there will never be a right time for her, telling the BBC that children aren’t nor ever will be on her agenda.
In fact, she’s so certain that she doesn’t want kids that she has decided to undergo sterilisation, a procedure for which she has found it difficult to be referred.
She explained: “As a woman, there are four little words I can say that invite more condescension than almost any others: ‘I don’t want children.’
Holly added: “The fact is, there’s nothing about creating another human that appeals to me. That’s an emotional thing, and translating it into rational reasons takes something away from its strength.
“If I say I don’t think I’d be a good parent, for instance, people respond, ‘Everyone feels that way at first.’ If I say I can’t imagine ever having the time, energy or money, I’m told I’ll ‘find a way to manage’. If I say I want to devote my life to my career, they say I’m ‘selfish’.
“There’s no acceptable reason to not want a baby, it seems.”
She then explains that her mother “didn’t want kids” and “only agreed to have them” because her father wanted a family.
Holly on This Morning earlier this year (via YouTube/This Morning)
It has taken Holly a number of attempts to be referred for the procedure, having been told previously that she was “too young.”
As for birth control, she says it’s not an option as the pill makes her ill and she has heard that the coil can cause terrible side effects.
Holly argues: “I don’t need reversible contraception. There’s a 10-minute keyhole operation that can solve this problem for good, and I can’t believe that at the age of almost 30 in 2015, I’m still having to fight to get it.
“We can choose to get pregnant at 16 but not to decline motherhood at 29. It seems our decisions are only taken seriously when they align with tradition.
“Well, I’ve never been one for tradition.”
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