A man took to the internet to point out that it doesn’t make sense at all for people to have kids while working full-time jobs. His post highlighted that parents today are burned out, and with little help and mounting financial stressors, it’s not getting any better.
Parenting is hard, no matter which lens you’re looking at it through. It doesn’t matter if you’re a stay-at-home parent or a working parent; finding a balance can be difficult without losing your sanity. To childfree people, parents who work full-time and then come home to look after their kids and handle any household responsibilities can sound like a lot.
One man in particular admitted that he just doesn’t know how parents who work full-time manage not to lose their minds.
“I’ll never understand how people actually want to have kids when they work a full time job. To me, that makes no sense at all, especially with the way jobs are paying and rent prices skyrocketing. Why should I have kids?” he questioned in a post to the subreddit “r/antiwork.”
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He questioned what incentive there could possibly be that would convince him it was a good idea to become a father while also working a full-time job. He pointed out that if he had kids, he would have less time for himself outside of work, along with the financial strain of having them.
“I currently work 8:30 AM – 6 PM five days a week and I’m in office four of those days. I don’t get home until 7 PM every day and the thought of having to father children when I get home drives me up the wall. I’m never having kids,” he continued.
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A study by LendingTree found that 1 in 10 American adults is out of the workforce to care for their children, and more than 20% of working parents have had to leave their jobs to do so. Most of that is due to the financial burden of having children.
LendingTree analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey to discover why parents are leaving the workforce. They learned that the number of parents who have left their jobs to care for their children, and the states with the highest percentages of parents who have done so.
Just over 1 in 10 (10.7%) American adults who aren’t retired but aren’t working said in the survey that they’re not working because they care for children who aren’t in school or day care. With childcare costs as high as they are, it’s no wonder parents have to make this kind of sacrifice.
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Caregiving responsibilities, including the cost of child care, were the top driving factors that led women to leave the workforce voluntarily in 2025, according to data from Catalyst, a nonprofit focused on women’s advancement in the workplace.
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An estimated 42% of women who quit cited caregiving concerns as a top reason, while nearly 1 in 5 (17%) reported low pay as a contributing factor to their exit. It’s no wonder many childfree people, including this Redditor, seem appalled by the idea of trying to balance everything while still parenting.
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Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.
