A 22-year-old woman, Lorella Palmer has explained why she vowed never to have kids.
Speaking to The Mirror, Palmer said kids have no common sense, they can’t drink, they have to go to bed early, they scream, they cry and they annoy her.
The lady from southeast London who admitted that she knows that some believe her decision is selfish, however claimed that she is happy with her life and doesn’t need children to feel fulfilled.
She said: “Kids are just annoying, they annoy me, in every sense of the word. They have no common sense, they can’t drink, they have to go to bed early, they scream, they cry, they annoy me.
“Every time I see a child, they’ve just got crust round their nose and round their mouth, there’s drool, they’ve got food everywhere and they’ve got sticky fingers.
“They’re just living their best life, they’re being kids, but I just want to be wearing a cream dress and not worry! I don’t like that mess, stay away from me.
“I hate kids’ TV too. Your kid is one, they don’t need to watch cartoons – pop on Vampire Diaries please, or Gossip Girl, or Friends.
“We don’t need to watch kids’ TV, it’s boring. I just want to sit downstairs and chat with people without Cartoon Network on in the background the entire time.”
Other concerns that have promoted her decision are her figure and cash. Palmer added:
“Why would I want to push something out of my hoo-ha and expand my stomach and my cherries and everything else on me that’s just going to change?
“Kids are expensive. I know what it’s like to grow up quite poor and I’d rather go on holiday than pay for a kid.”
Luckily, Lorella’s boyfriend of four-and-a-half years, Callum Page, 23, shares her opinion.
Instead of having children, the couple plan to dedicate their lives to having fun, travelling the world and building successful businesses. While everyone in her life is supportive of her decision, she admits her dad is disappointed that he won’t get to have grandchildren.
Palmer said: “I just don’t want to have kids. I’ve given all these reasons, but at the end of the day, saying you don’t want to have kids should be enough.
“My friends are supportive of my decision, but some have said to just give it time and I’ll change my mind. What if I don’t?
“I’m my dad’s only daughter, and he has said that he wants to be a granddad and I’m the only chance he’s got to have that.
“Having children would definitely be the lowest priority in my life. I don’t need children to feel fulfilled.”
She also accused people of not admitting that they are selfish sometimes. Palmer said:
“I think that a lot of people aren’t happy to admit that they are selfish, and then they have kids and do nothing but complain.
“When I say I’m selfish, I mean that I enjoy my own sleep, my own time and my own money, and kids take all of that away.
“Unless you’re willing to give that all away, because kids deserve everything if you decide to bring them onto the planet, you shouldn’t have them.
“I’m not prepared to give all my sleep, time and energy away, or my money.”
Palmer who graduated last year from the University of Portsmouth with a degree in law and is currently growing two of her own businesses as an agent for social media influencers, also said that she’d prefer to spend her money on travelling and on herself rather than spending it on raising children.
Callum, who has also recently graduated, said:
“I agree with Lorella about not wanting children right now. We are both very good at communicating what we both want at this point in our lives and we know we want to travel and do exciting things.
“My whole entire life, I have been the youngest in my family and it wasn’t until one year ago I became an uncle. My brother had a little boy called Nathaniel and at this point in time, I am very happy just being an uncle.
“I still feel like a little kid myself, only just graduated university one year ago too. I haven’t really experienced adult life properly, only student life.
“The time for developing as adult has only just started and I get to do that with the most amazing girlfriend, Lorella.”
Serious reasons that have impacted Palmer’s decision come from her concerns about the state of the world and the minefield that is educating children on mental health.
She also acknowledged that she feels there is a societal pressure for mums to take on the main care-giving role when it comes to having children.
Palmer said:”The world is a really, really bad place – bullying, war, poverty, men with podcasts, a pandemic, the list goes on.
“You can’t control that. You can be the best parent ever and your child can seriously still grow up with some bad issues and bad things going on around them.
“Tell me how you’re meant to educate your child on what mental health is without giving them ideas about bad things that are out there but without making them naive. You can’t.
“There are the kids that grew up with mental health issues and there are the kids that have no idea what mental health is. There is no in between.
“Dads are rewarded for looking after their kids but mums are just expected to do it.
“If I wanted to go out with my girls for a night out, and my baby daddy had to look after our child, other people will be like ‘Aww, isn’t it lovely that he’s so hands on?’
“But if he wanted to go out and I looked after the kid, nobody would say the same about me. Mums are just expected to do everything, and if the dad does his normal dad duties, he’s applauded.
“My dad was a single dad and did an incredible job of raising me. My mum moved to Australia when I was 12 years old, so I didn’t grow up with that mother figure. How would I know what to do if I became a mum?
“If by some miracle I did have children and actually liked my child, I’d want it to be very equal with my partner in looking after our child, whereas today I feel like dads are always viewed as helping out when they actually look after their kid.”
Palmer also admitted that her stance on not having children could change when she is older, but she has slammed others for trying to change the minds of women who say they don’t want kids.
She said: “When I was a teenager, I’d play planning my perfect life at sleepovers and I thought 22 was so grown up and that by then, I’d have got married, got four kids and drive a Range Rover.
“Now I am 22 and I realise it’s so not grown up. My boyfriend just graduated too and we’re both just fumbling through life, trying to figure it out, so I cannot imagine having kids.
“There is the pressure of time, like at what point can’t I change my mind and still have children before my body decides I’ve run out of time?
“I just graduated last year, I’m one year out of university and two years into my career, I just started living. A lot of my reasons are based around why I don’t want them right now, but I may never change my mind, and that should just be accepted.
“Having children would definitely be the lowest priority in my life. If I did change my mind on having kids, it definitely wouldn’t be until I’m in my thirties.”
