I’m 26 and right now don’t see myself having kids, ever. I’m wondering if this is a sign that it’s not meant to be, or if I just need to wait a little bit before I the desire to procreate might surface.
I would love to know when the urge to have kids hit y’all, and if it was a, “I always knew I wanted kids” or if you weren’t really interested until one day you woke up and babies were on the brain.
I’m 31 and it still hasn’t kicked in. In fact, seeing my friends (pretty much ALL my friends) have kids has solidified the idea in my mind - I don’t want kids. Not even holding my little baby niece made my clock even tick a little bit.
Never really wanted kids until I was almost 30. Then it was like a switch flipped on. It’s hard work being a parent, both physically and emotionally. Don’t feel defective for not wanting to do it.
44 at the end of this month - never. 
As soon as I realized that I could, hypothetically, have children at some point in my life, I knew I wanted them.
It wasn’t until I was in my mid 30s and started to realize that my health problems, inability to make and keep a fiscal plan of any sort, and lack of any long term relationship meant that not only was I unlikely to have any children, but it would be better for all concerned if I didn’t.
I still want them. Biological children, step-children, adopted children, foster children . . . any would do. I refuse to pursue the possibility unless I have the rest of my life and my health straightened out, which I doubt will happen. But I still want them.
I expect menopause will be pretty rough.
I already have two girls, 21 and 5, but recently I started feeling the urge to have another.
Just happened at 29. I went from being totally indifferent about having kids to thinking about the idea a lot. Happened practically overnight. Utterly bizarre.
It never really happened to me. When I got to be about 36, my husband and I were like, “we’d better start thinking about this kid thing.” So, we went ahead and had a couple, and am I ever glad we did. The only times I ever got to thinking about having kids at that kind of hormonal level was when each kid turned about 18 months old, and I started wanting to have a baby to hold again.
phouka, reading this made me sad :(. I really applaud your thorough analysis of your child-rearing abilities, and I hope things work out for you so that you can be a mom.
I hope this isn’t too personal, Sarahfeena, but was it difficult to conceive in your late 30s? I was glad to read your story because it made me realize that I have a while before the door closes, but I’ve heard that after 35 getting pregnant can be really difficult.
I’m 40, and it hasn’t started. I figured out in my young teen years that I definitely didn’t want kids, and the clock hasn’t started up.
I became unintentionally pregnant at 24, and had a beautiful, healthy daughter. Then, when she was 3, and I was about 28, it (the biological clock) started ticking loudly. I went to my husband, armed with all the reasons I thought we should think about having another baby. I said “Honey, I think we should maybe have another baby” and he said “OK”. I said “Wait! You haven’t heard my reasons yet!” 
A year later, our second daughter was born. Also beautiful, also healthy.
Personally (from a perspective of not knowing what I do now), I’d have been perfectly satisfied to stop there. Finally, when our middle daughter was 6, my hubby said “We could try one more time for a boy, couldn’t we?”
That’s how we ended up with mudgirl, born when I was 38. Obviously not the boy he’d hoped for! But much more like him than either of the other two. . .and boy does she keep my life interesting!
I’m 55 and it never did.
I’d have a blip here and there when I was in my 30s and it always seemed to arrive right before I had my period. Haven’t had a blip since my early 40s, never had any maternal urge when I was in my 20s.
My mindset: If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. It never did.
I’m 53, never wanted kids. I got pregnant DESPITE using contraceptive foam and condoms when I was 21 (and a couple of other times, on other methods). I’d been pregnant before, and miscarried, and it just about killed my husband. So I tried very hard to stay pregnant.
When she was born, I didn’t love her at first, it took me a couple of days, and I did breastfeed, which I think helped. But if I could go back in time…I’d really prefer to never have had a child.
I spent my entire 20s sure that I didn’t want kids. The year I turned 30, though…Like Even said, it just went from “nah” to “wait, I think I do want some kids after all” almost all at once. Now that I’m almost 33 and still single, I wish I’d figured it out five years sooner.
I was about 25-26, and it happened really suddenly. Before that, I hadn’t thought about kids that much, and didn’t care if I was going to have any or not, maybe someday. Then I suddenly just started wanting one. For weeks/months every baby I saw looked totally adorable and like the most gorgeous thing ever. I talked to my partner and he was agreeable, so we had one. I wanted a second, and a third (which we didn’t have) and I still like babies and think they are cute, but nothing like how clucky I was in my 20s.
I’m 46 and it never did.
Yeah, all through my 20s, I had no desire. To the point that I never even thought about it and figured that well, I’d make an awesomely absent mother what with work etc. Then, I turned 30, met the SO, and two weeks after we’d started dating, he asked whether I’d thought about kids names etc. Now, the biological clock is clicking loudly, and I really want kids. Soon.
I turned 44 in July, and have never wanted my own children. Every so often, I get a twinge of “maybe I should procreate?” Then I spend time with my friends’ kids (who I adore), and that cures the twinge.
I love playing aunt, but am far too selfish and impatient to be a parent.
I don’t know if I fit in with the rest of the respondents, because I really love children and have always fantasized about being a mother. Sometimes when I see other people with their kids, I get a little envious.
HOWEVER, I have chosen a rather nomadic lifestyle that is not conducive to raising children (or even having a significant other), and I really don’t see it happening.
I’m okay with it. I don’t know if my biological clock might yet kick in and I’ll REALLY WANT KIDS, but it seems unlikely to me. I can deal.
I’m 32.