Life Without Children Monthly Review and March Prompt

Tell us about your complex experiences between being childfree or childless and loss and grief

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I’m sorry for this offensively late prompt. I usually have them out on the 1st of each month. I was away, downed tools and didn’t take my laptop. And in my distracted, foggy and perimenopausal state, I completely forgot to schedule this post, so it published while I was away.

But it’s here now, better late than never, so let’s get right into it.

Life Without Children creative prompt for March

Last month, for our creative prompt, I encouraged you to share how you may experience a duality of feelings and emotions around not having kids.

You are welcome to continue responding to our previous prompts, there is no need to be restricted by the month each prompt is allocated to.

A Life Without Children reader has suggested this month's topic, and it’s a biggie. She wrote in to tell me about the pervasive, insensitive comments she regularly receives from family members around her not having kids. Comments of such magnitude of harm that she eventually ended up no-contact with these people. And with this erasure of relationships, the loss and grief avalanched. She lost relationships with siblings, neices and nephews. She lost a future she envisioned.

Her grief and loss of not having kids was compounded by the grief and loss of relationships.

March prompt: Loss and grief among people without kids is complex. It’s not limited to the children who aren’t in this world. Rather, this loss carries over into other areas of life. Into a mourning for experiences that won’t be lived and relationships either not formed or derailed. Whether childless or childfree, our status of being without kids influences and impacts all our relationships. Some relationships survive and even thrive; others fragment and evaporate.

Tell us about the complex intersection you experience between not having kids and loss and grief.

Scroll to the bottom to read our tips for responding to our prompts.

Reflections from February at Life Without Children

Here’s to another month of real human thoughts and experiences at Life Without Children here on Medium.

Andrea A graced us with a deeply relatable piece for many who are childfree. The Epiphany I Had as a Childfree Woman Holding My Godson.

Maria Cassano articulates what motherhood would cost her. Yeah, I’d Be a Great Mom — But I Wouldn’t Be a Happy One.

Charlie Brown manages to avoid toxic positivity while being positive about her future after unsuccessful IVF. I Had Two Failed Rounds of IVF, so How Can I Count Myself as a Success Story?

Y.L. Wolfe examines the glimmers of her life despite it not looking as she had hoped. I Wish I Could Have Become a Mother…but I Cherish the Little Mercies of Childlessness.

And please, please give this poem by Ren a read. A Poem About Leaving a Legacy Without Children

Recommendations from outside Life Without Children

I’m delighted that my copy of Poorna Bell’s new book, She Wanted More, has arrived and is waiting for me in Scotland. This is an essential read for all women — whether mothers, childless, childfree, or undecided. This book is an invocation to rise up and live in accordance with our yearnings and not to live as prescribed by the patriarchy.

Please share the love of what childfree or childless content you’ve been enjoying recently.

I can offer up hoardes of recommendations for articles, podcasts, and social media accounts that eloquently raise awareness of not having kids. But I’d love to hear from you. Please drop a comment with a link to what you’ve been reading, listening to or watching recently.

And if you are reading this and you have a book, an article, a podcast, a play, artwork, a social media account — anything really — dedicated to the childless or childfree, please don’t be shy — tell us about it in the comments. Sharing is caring. I want to help sign-post people to your work.

What will March bring?

March is all set to bring in some thought-provoking reads. Subscribe to us for free on Substack to have these pieces drop into your inbox throughout the month.

• Children Aren’t The Only Way to Leave a Legacy by Victoria Suzanne
• I Don’t Want To Be a Mother. I Don’t Want To Be a Mother. I Don’t Want To Be a Mother. I Don’t Want To Be a Mother. by Ali Hall
• What Would The World Look Like If We Stopped Asking People If They Planned To Have Kids? by Charlie Brown
• How Pronatalism Is the Oldest Ism of Our Time by Ali Hall

Tips for responding to our prompts

Our creative prompts are a great way to generate thoughts and conversations.

Some people keep a private journal dedicated to our writing prompts, while others prefer to publish their responses with us.

I want to encourage you to respond however feels most comfortable to you, whether that’s creating a TikTok video or Instagram reel, writing a blog post on your own platform, or posting on social media.

Heck, if you want to create a video with interpretive dance, write a poem, or paint something in response to this prompt, please do.

I just ask that where feasible, you use the hashtag #LifeWithoutChildren and maybe even tag Life Without Children, or me personally to ensure I see your work and can share it in the next monthly round-up. Feel free to message me a link to your response.

If your response is in writing format and you want to publish it with us at Life Without Children, here are a few tips.

Absolutely no AI, ever! Please read the **submission guidelines**.

The key thing is to make us feel something.

A powerful story is a human story. Make us laugh and cry. Show us the absurdity of what you’ve had to deal with.

I’m saying it again — make sure your piece fits our submission guidelines.

To guarantee your chance of being published with us, read through our stories to see what sort of things we publish.

Use “writing prompts” and “life without children” as two of your topic tags.

Find out how to become a writer with Life Without Children here.

Anyone who publishes with us does so via Medium. If you don’t use Medium yet, this document will be your friend.

Check out the Life Without Children list of resources.

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