Weddingbee Blog

A lot of people in my life have been having babies recently, and some other people have been asking about our future offspring. Someone recently said, “I know that early in a relationship you should ask the important things like about kids, money, career, etc. but that doesn’t seem like first date convo… when do you ask those questions?” I’m curious about your thoughts and experiences on this one, and here are mine:

I don’t know what the “rule” is about these questions, but I do think that if you know where you stand on an issue, and you feel strongly about it, it’s worth bringing up pretty early in a relationship. Not first-date-early —I think at that point you’re still trying to figure out if you have a connection, if you’re interested, if they’re interested. But probably third-date-early. And part of it, I think, is that not everyone has issues that they need to bring up; some people are flexible about a lot of things and would change their stance on an issue (kids, geography, etc) if it was for the right person. But if you aren’t flexible, and you know that, I think it’s your responsibility to bring it up pretty early, so that you’re not put in a place where you have to choose between two things you really, really care about (an established relationship and your desire for children, for example).

Very early on in my relationship with Fancee, we went to eat lunch outside, and we were sitting there, eating, when she got a really nervous look on her face.

And then she finally sort of awkwardly said something like, “Look, I really don’t want to have kids. I’m not going to change my mind. It’s something I’ve thought about and something I feel strongly about, and I want to tell you now in case it’s a deal breaker*.”

Us being adorable at our lunch spot, where above-referenced conversation occurred

Spoiler alert! We are getting married. It was not a deal breaker. But here is some background on the issue for me:

Shortly before Fancee and I started dating, my lady-bits doctor found a mass or lump or cyst or something that made me go to a specialist, blah blah blah… let’s just say that I spent a weekend freaking out because I thought that if I wanted to have kids, I would need to have them, like, right now or probably never. I called my awesome male friend E, with whom I had planned to have babies once I realized I was a big ol’ lesbian, and said, “Let’s get this party started!” and he said, “Okay, let’s do it in a year so we can be financially stable.” Yeah, look how responsible we were even in a baby panic.

So I spent the weekend being like, “I want babies! I think! Wait, maybe I don’t want babies. I mean, how strongly do I really feel about this whole deal? My life is kind of awesome. Maybe I don’t need babies. Why do I want babies anyway?” And by the end of the weekend, I had decided that if it was now or never, I would pick never. And I really felt comfortable with that.

Back to the story:

So when Fancee said, “I don’t want children. Is that something that you are comfortable with?”, my response was, “Well… can we get a dog?”

And, obviously, that worked out just fine.**

yes, Fancee is in Daphne’s crate in this picture. Not unusual.

So my answer to the question is that I think kids is something to talk about early, if you know you do or don’t want them. I think that money is a conversation that we are all always learning to have, especially in relationships. I think that careers change and that they are a pretty personal decision, and that can be a conversation you have later, too, though I think it was pretty early on that I said, “I might need to move across the country for vet school, depending on where I get in,” and Fancee agreed to go with me.

(Side note, sort of: if you do want or definitely don’t want the things that your date doesn’t or does want, don’t give up the things that you feel strongly about. There’s someone out there who wants the same things. But if you find someone wonderful and you don’t feel strongly, then compromise is fun; and sometimes you don’t even have to compromise, you just agree, and that’s even more fun!)

Dearest readers, what do you think? Have you had this conversation with people you’ve dated? When do you ask these questions?

* Fancee does like babies, she just doesn’t want any, and that’s okay.
** For the record, I have never wanted children the way I wanted a dog. I’ve been wanting a dog since I was about 2. I’m not exaggerating. I have wanted kids, oh, every so often, usually around the time of the month when I’m ovulating. I find that the desire for children is easily cured by going somewhere where there are a lot of them, like the Science museum; conversely, the desire for a dog is only amplified when I am surrounded by them. I think that says a lot.