The Childfree Connection Featured in The Worklife Section of BBC!
One couple working hard to bring a new normal to childfree living are fiancés Veronica Prager, 46, and Rick Grimes, 51. Based out of Austin, Texas, they run The Childfree Connection online community which works hard to connect childfree people from around the world, offer support for those who are leaning towards being childfree but unsure and brings people together through their digital membership community. “There’s a lot on TikTok or whatever of like, ‘I’d rather be at the club than having to take care of a kid’. Which is interesting and which is fine, and makes sense for them at the time. But there does come a time where you’re not going to be at the club,” says Pager.
The couple currently spends their time hiking, focussing on their health, spending time with their childfree friends and working flexibly on The Childfree Connection. Despite never wanting their own kids, they love children and their content offers advice on how to navigate and maintain relationships with close friends and family who are parents.
“There are a lot of accounts out there that do a lot of ‘kid bashing’ and, like, ‘oh, we have it better’ and that type of thing. And that's not what we're about,” explains Grimes. “It's more about just what this life feels, looks like, what you can expect.”
There's a lot of unknowns when some people choose the childfree life and what their elder years may look like, “There's a lot of fear of getting older and ‘who's going to take care of me’ and ‘what is my future going to look like’? So, we're right now doing it ourselves so that we can share it with our community,” says Prager. The couple gives advice to their program, Is Childfree For Me?, members with doubts about being childfree. “There are days where you're going to feel very confident about your choice, and then all of a sudden the next day, you're going to have fear of missing out,” says Grimes. “That inner struggle going back and forth is important to keep a handle on, and [many need] to have a place to go, to get that support.”
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