How did you know if you wanted kids?
My partner and I have been together for 4 years and are getting to the point where we’re talking about engagement/etc. I’m in my mid-late 20s. I love him so much and we have a pretty solid relationship. I have never been sure if I wanted kids, I basically raised my younger brother and haven’t crossed all the things off my to-do list like travel etc. But at the same time sometimes I look at my partner and how he interacts with his niece and nephew and the thought of us not having kids feels sad? And growing old without having a “family” also seems sad. But also I’m not the most organized person on my own most days and sometimes my pet even annoys me having to get up and feed her breakfast in the morning, when she breaks something, etc lol. Also the thought of raising a kid in this current day and age seems terrifying and stressful as hell. I always felt like once I got to my 30s I’d know and maybe I will, but in the meantime I’m in a relationship where my partner is pretty sure he does not want kids and I want to progress with him but… we don’t know about kids. He was back and forth on kids for a bit but I think if he had it his way it’d be a no. Mainly for financial reasons. Maybe I won’t want kids still either (I sure don’t right this second) but the thought of waking up one day and regretting it or realizing I do want kids too far into this stresses me out. But I don’t want to risk my relationship if it turns out I didn’t want kids anyways. How did you know if you did or didn’t?