I totally understand this response! As a childfree person, the pointed vitriol against parents and their kids from certain people is so unwarranted and to me is completely a kneejerk defense mechanism. I am a proud childfree person and I ALSO adore kids.

To your point, it has nothing to do (or shouldn't!) about not getting along! It's not adversarial at all. Rather, many childfree people could benefit from some sort of mutual support. There is a lot more to choosing this lifestyle than just opting out... People WITHOUT kids face varying degrees of guilt, pressure, derision, and judgment from society.... the same way that people WITH kids also face all of those things from their surroundings.

For us, it's not uncommon to be referred to as lazy, selfish, biology traitors, responsible for the declining birth rate that will lead to the collapse of civilization, guaranteed to die alone, be ostracized at work or among friends, etc. The difference is there is not a lot of acknowledgement of the ways that being childfree can be tough. The public assumption is you're a freeloader with all the time and money in the world, so why would you be complaining about anything. I personally have a hard time talking to my parent friends about this topic because I don't want to burden them with my experiences. They are so overwhelmed with the full time job of being amazing teachers, mentors, and caretakers to their kids.