Of course it was a joke and I found it immensely funny!
I chose not to have children when I was a child myself and never changed my mind about it.
But I see my sister and brother with their offsprings and often asked myself why they don't strangle them lol
This said, I know some awesome teenagers and if I was sure my own would have grown up to be like that maybe I would have changed my mind about maternity

Whew. I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that way. I like children, they are so adorable in the right light, but I find myself exhausted by being with them 2 hours or more. I personally don't think I would make a great mother. I'm good with my boys though.

I found parenthood very demanding. I think it was good that I stopped at 1; it was the most I could handle well. And, my daughter was pretty easy! I really admire parents who deal with children with severe disabilities.

You have many years ahead of you, and you can always try to bring them up in the right light (I am not saying that people shouldn't have kids in their 20s, but lots of people get mature enough close to 30, 30+, or even 40). I think people go thru a lot of transformations since being teenagers.
I am recalling, I had 2 classmate friends. One girl got a child at age 20 (that didn't prevent her from becoming a doctor later), another one gave birth at age 24. We came with the first girl to the hospital to see her, and they were talking about infants and labor, and I was standing there completely unable to understand what they were talking about and why it was such a big deal I thought I lost my friends as we had nothing left in common It took me another half decade to get to the point of motherhood.
My daughter doesn't like to be the only child (there are reasons why she doesn't get a sibling) so she says she will have 3 kids when she grows up We will see how it goes, but of course she plans for college before that (I keep emphasizing - no kids before you can provide for them well enough)

Dianne, I thought your college should have been covered by financial aid?
Yes, It's not easy not to repeat your own parents' parenting style. I can't get rid of doing some things that my parents did to me and I hated. But I am trying

I had a similar childhood to yours Diane. When I raised my own three children even though I tried to be very different from my parents, my children grew up to be very angry people. Most of the anger directed at me. The addictions skipped a generation and snared them.
My grandchildren are wonderful though and are the light of my husband's and my life. Go figure!

"Dianne, I thought your college should have been covered by financial aid? "

I did my first 30 credits in night school. I did not apply for financial aid, and don't know whether financial aid would have been available to a part time student. No one explained what was available or how to apply. The tuition was hard on a clerical salary and having to support myself in my own apartment.

When I was twenty, I moved into New York City. At that time, the City University was free to matriculated students. That was such a blessing! When I met my husband, who was a graduate student, I was able to matriculate and go full time. I was SO happy to be a full time student. I did receive a work-study job of fifteen hours a week at the college.

I feel so bad for students today, with college costing many, many times as much as I paid. I have family members who are suffocated by their student loans. They often do not fully understand how difficult they are going to be to pay back.

I feel I was blessed in many ways. However, in my early years of adulthood I often compared my situation to friends of mine whose parents who were more supportive.

The reality is, however, that my parents will ill prepared for raising a family. My mother was a "war bride." She was from England and married my father when she was 17. I don't think she ever had the life she wanted. She missed her family and would have liked to return to England. However, her father would not permit it. She wanted things to be much better, for herself and for me, than they turned out. I think, overall, I have had a significantly happier life than she and my father ever had. Over the years, I have learned to be merciful in how I think about them. Those other feelings lurk in the background, though, and come out in unguarded moments.

I try and be forgiving but, as you say, there are powerful feelings lurking from the deep. I adored my parents but I think I will never forgive them for doing a job as good as a train wreck.
I decided that parenthood wasn't for me probably mainly because I didn't want to be hated, and I am pretty sure it would have happened. I am not cut for the job, that's the truth.

Now it's about Trillie, who is Cuddle's partner. He is nobody knows how old but I think 3-4 yo
He has always been a bird who is totally disinterested in everything. The most excited he was when he had chicks and when I spray him with water. Now he is too overwhelmed by all the young birds around. He never eats on top of the cage or other places in the house where I serve food.
most of the time he is doing nothing, or preening himself or sometimes another bird. When he needs to eat, most of the times he would go inside the cage and eat there. I can't figure out if he is not sick or anything. I just don't see him eating at all today. He is sleeping (with one foot up), he took a shower behaving as usual (from the spray bottle), I see Cuddles cuddling with him and he answers.
how do I know for sure he is OK? it's a time of the year that everybody hates - too hot outside. HE is inside with AC on but that can make anybody sleepy I think.

This is a pretty normal way for parent birds to act after the babies are weaned. They often start molting (which takes a lot of energy) and in general they want to rest up and avoid the little pests lol.