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We Want To Read: Selfish, Shallow, And Self-Absorbed

Written by Katie Hintz-Zambrano

Photography by Photo Via Amazon

We think we can all agree that the “mommy wars” wouldn’t really be a thing if the media would stop using the term, and if women and men would stop judging each other for their (completely personal) parenting choices. Another battle that we wish would end? That between mothers and non-mothers, and we think Meghan Daum’s new book, Selfish, Shallow, And Self-Absorbed: 16 Writers On The Deciscion Not To Have Kids, is a good start.

We’re only half way through this series of thoughtful essays and we can’t stop flipping the pages, wanting more. The tome is filled with sixteen tales, all by professional writers—13 women, 3 men—that prove that the choice to not have children is absolutely as valid as the choice to have children.

Each story is deeply personal, with some decisions not to have kids quite cut-and-dry, while others ebb and flow with feelings of yearning for a life with children, and eventually deciding not to. “Selfish, shallow, and self-absorbed,” these child-free writers are not, just like folks who decide to have children are simply any of the labels thrown at them.

So, while this very site celebrate women who are taking on the monumental task of raising children, we also think this little book is a must-read peek at the other side of the coin.

Selfish, Shallow, And Self-Absorbed: 16 Writers On The Deciscion Not To Have Kids, $12.99, Amazon.

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