The question plaguing almost every Millennial I know - myself included - is whether or not to have children. It's a sign of our age, as the oldest Millennials are now in their early 40s and the youngest in their very late 20s.
More than half of this generation have already become parents, according to data published by the UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies. But the age at which people become parents has steadily increased in the UK, and some people are going even further - not wanting children at all.
In a new interview in Esquire, Seth Rogen opened up about his and his wife Lauren Miller's decision to stay child-free. The Canadian actor and comedian, 42, said he faced backlash for being candid about not wanting children.
"You should only have kids if you really want kids, and we just don't really want kids. Time kept going by and the moment where we were like, 'Let's do it!' just kept not happening," he told the publication.
The Superbad star was particularly rankled by the suggestion that having children would mean he would be looked after in his old age. "The most disturbing comment that I saw a lot of was, 'Who's going to take care of you when you're old?' Which to me is very telling. Is that why you're having kids?" he said.
"Because I have two things to say: One, that's very selfish to create a human so someone can take care of you. And two, just because you have a kid, I hate to break it to you, that doesn't mean they're going to do that."
Rogen's words really resonate with me as a 32-year-old married Millennial with no plans to have children - ever. Like him and Miller, I've been waiting for the moment where my husband and I look at one another and say, "Let's do it", but it hasn't arrived and I can't see it anywhere on the horizon for us.
Being child-free by choice is not a radical decision by any means. A 2020 YouGov survey found that over a third (37%) of Britons who have never had children don't want to have them in the future.
People don't want to have children for many various reasons. Some are worried about how expensive it is to raise a child (10%), while others think the world is overpopulated (9%) as it is.
A much smaller proportion are like me and Rogen, who simply do not feel the desire to have children (5%). It isn't for a lack of trying, particularly as more and more of my peers welcome tiny new additions to their families.
A couple of weeks ago, I met with one of these little bundles of joy. It was wonderful to see her mother, a colleague-turned-friend, take on the role of being her mummy. I held her (briefly, before she realised I wasn't Mum and started wriggling), looked into her eyes, tried to imagine myself with one of my own. And I simply couldn't.
It doesn't mean I don't like children. There is a misconception that people who don't want children must hate them. But most other child-free adults I know don't harbour any sort of ill will towards the children in their lives.
In fact, I believe there is a big place in society for people without children. We are the friends who will keep the baby entertained while mum steps out for a breath of fresh air. We are the aunts and uncles who will step in for a scared teenage niece or nephew who is in trouble and doesn't want to call their parents.
For friends who are parents, we are the ones who will keep them from feeling like they've been isolated from the rest of the world. "I'm so glad I have you to keep me from disappearing into nappies and breastfeeding," a friend who had just become a new mother once told me. We're not less important just because we don't have children.
Like Rogen, I also don't believe that people should have children just so they will have someone to take care of them in their old age. While this would have been the traditional expectation of a family dynamic as time passes, things have changed drastically in modern times.
Adult children are finding it increasingly difficult to support ageing parents, who are living for longer now than ever, research from Age UK revealed in 2023. From a lack of knowledge of what to do to help parents as they age (79%), to struggling to manage financially (61%), the pressure to do it all - raise children and look after older parents all while maintaining a job and a social life to keep your sanity - is becoming too much.
Even if a child is able, both physically and financially, to look after their elderly parents, there's no guarantee they will - or even should. Families can be complicated and having a child purely as insurance for old age is surely unethical in this day and age.
For some people, becoming a parent is the most natural and obvious thing in the world. Isn't that why we're here? But all my worrying and questioning makes me believe that - for me - bringing a child into the world simply isn't the right path.
I previously spoke to Ruby Warrington, author of Women Without Children, about our lack of "calling" to become mothers. At the time, she recalled a conversation with a friend that has stuck with her, and now with me: "She said, 'Becoming a parent is literally one of the only decisions that you can't unmake'. And not only can you not undo it, but now you've brought another human being into the equation as well."
In his interview, Rogen added: "I look at my friends with kids and honestly I feel like some of them are incredibly happy and fulfilled, and some of them seem like maybe they wish they had put a little more thought into it. I just didn't want to be one of those people."
I don't want to be one of those people, either. I will happily cherish and adore the children in my life, I just don't feel the need to have any of my own - and that's OK.