Families of Two: Interviews with Happily Married Couples Without Children by Choice

by Laura Carroll

Families of Two: Interviews with Happily Married Couples Without Children by Choice, takes us into the lives of the growing number of couples who are choosing not to have children, and dispels the myths commonly associated with this choice.

Genres: Nonfiction, Childrens, Psychology, Sociology

Paperback

First published September 21, 2000

About the author

See this link: https://lauracarroll.com/about/

Reviews

[Jessi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heck, I liked this book even before I started reading it! One of my biggest pet peeves is when people ask a married couple, "When are you going to start a family?" Umm, the day they got married they became a family, dumbass. I'm glad to see that some other people understand this simple fact, too.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laura Carroll interviewed 30 couples that were happily married for a minimum of 10 years and had made the decision not to have children. The book includes 15 of those couples interviewed. The couples respond to questions that reflect a variety of reasons that lead to couples choosing the childfree life. The interviewer did a nice job of arranging the book by couple including some stunning black and white photography of the couples by Krista Bartz. The book is relaxed and engaging...it has the tone of sitting around a dinner table talking about marriage and life with friends. This book published in 2000 still feels current. I would recommend this book to those wondering if married life without children can work out. The common myths attached to the childfree couples; regret and selfishness; do not ring true as the lives of these couples are portrayed through the interviewers lens. I would rate this book a 3.5 but since that option is not available I am happy to give it a 4.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars not because I learned anything from it, but because of what it can teach other people who might think the choice to not have children is somehow different or other or abnormal, and can't imagine how childfree folk manage to have meaningful, happy, fulfilled lives without the obligatory +2.3. This book is to childfreedom what "The Truth About Witchcraft Today" is to paganism in that when someone expresses an interest in knowing more about why you are the way you are, you can simply hand them this book and let them discover for themselves from other happily childfree couples what you've been saying all along.

The author even provides her e-mail address, laurac@inetarena.com, for childfree couples to contact her in order that she may extend her research and data base -though I do not know if the address is still functional as the book was published in 2000.

[Murphy CK · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing revelatory in this book. A lot of what the interviewees say are things i’ve thought of already. A couple of the relationships I found a but disturbing. What i did like were the questions asking about how the interviewees want to “mould” the next generation - validating that you can have that desire and not necessarily want kids. I also liked the question about getting married when you plan not to have children - as I have struggled with this question myself, though again, none of the answers were things I hadn’t already thought of

[Hannah Logan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dated, repetitive, and boring, with a narrow type of childfree couple interviewed.

[Dawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book features interviews with couple who have chosen to not have children. The author interviewed dozens of couples, and asked them all mostly the same questions. Many of the respondents' answers were quite similar, so it was somewhat repetitive. It was an okay read, but a bit dated. I'd like to read a modern take on why more people today are choosing to remain childless.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was expecting more interviews with people who struggled with the decision of whether or not to have children, but most of the individuals seemed to say that they'd never felt like having children... so it wasn't especially helpful for me...

[Julie]

A quick read of interviews. If anything, I wish the interviews had encompassed older couples, beyond their 70s.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked reading everyone's answers to the same questions. About 20 pages of text were missing. The pictures were on the page and the page numbers but nothing else.