Kid Me Not An Anthology By Child-Free Women Of The '60s Now In Their 60s

“Having a baby is like getting a tattoo on your face. You really need to be certain it’s what you want before you commit.”

“Woman must have her freedom, the fundamental freedom of choosing whether or not she will be a mother and how many children she will have. Regardless of what man’s attitude may be, that problem is hers — and before it can be his, it is hers alone. She goes through the vale of death alone, each time a babe is born. As it is the right neither of man nor the state to coerce her into this ordeal, so it is her right to decide whether she will endure it.”

Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love

Margaret Sanger, Founder of Planned Parenthood

Aralyn Hughes, editor of Kid Me Not

“Women who choose to have children often cannot understand those of us who have chosen not to. Kid Me Not, a collection of essays by everyday women, was written with the hope that all women, regardless of their inclinations, will be encouraged to listen to the voice within, and follow it, wherever it leads. With luck, our stories will sow seeds of respect between women who choose paths exclusive of children and those who have chosen the daunting task of being mothers.”

Aralyn Hughes, editor of Kid Me Not

Table of Content

Foreword Elizabeth Gilbert

· Introduction Aralyn Hughes

· Coloring Outside the LinesAralyn Hughes

· An Old Soul Norma Inman

· Biology Kathleen Juhl

· Damn! I Forgot to HaveChildren CK Carman

· A Woman is a Woman LinSutherland

· Timing Jane Burkett

· Where Did the Time Go? MegWilson

· Charged by a GallopingRhino Mary-Ellen Campbell

· Fruitless in the Big AppleKaren Kreps

· Married, with Critters JudyBallard

· Spinning the Globe AnnieBorden

· Question Authority KathleenClark

· The Big Decision thatWasn’t Melissa Eddy

· Dancing My Own Dance PeggyLamb

· I Can See Clearly Now DebyBell

· Acknowledgements