I'm revisiting one of my favorite subjects - advertising! Do media messages encourage people to have children to relive the childhood? I'm seeing more advertising that seems to be enticing viewers to relive imaginary, idealized childhoods by having kids.

If you are like me you sometimes like to get lost in a good novel. I've found that it's especially difficult to find childfree friendly fiction. I find P.D. James' mystery novels are reliable good-reads.

I’ve had several requests from men asking for commentary about living childfree, or childless, from a male point-of-view. Women seem to bear the brunt of criticism and pressure in this kid-centric society and I was curious about what sorts of social pressures men are subjected to on a daily basis.

Some psychologists suggest that we seek to deny death, and reduce related anxiety, by turning our lives over to a symbolic power that we perceive as being greater than ourselves. This can be a god, art, a hero, anything really – even children.

Childfree social fears are pervasive in our kid-centered society and often sound like this: I might not fit into society if I don’t have kids. What if I don’t have any friends because I don’t have kids? What if people think I am weird, or some kind of misfit?

Looking back through years of MNK archives I recognize three main categories of fear expressed by childfree people: Abandonment, social, and existential. Abandonment fears inspire questions such as: who will care for me when I become elderly and frail if I don�t have adult kids?

Insensitive commentary, and a friend’s disturbing teaching-job interview, indicate a growing disregard for lifestyle differences. If teachers are judged capable solely on the basis of parental status, any person working with young people can be similarly judged.

I’ve read statements claiming that pets don’t bond a married couple like children do, yet, I’ve been married to my husband for more years than I care to admit – and one of the things that kept us together and interested in one another is an intense interest in our pets and in animal rescue.

Solitude is not a sin, in fact it is often the key to the feeling of heightened spirituality people seek this time of year. Take just a moment to step away from the frenzy of family gatherings to appreciate the beauty of the season in solitude.

Recent conversations with young women, aspiring to be young mothers, are exemplary of changes in attitudes towards pregnancy in the past few decades – perhaps motivated by a recent barrage of Hollywood and advertising images of pregnancy.