{"id":4365,"date":"2016-07-10T12:39:46","date_gmt":"2016-07-10T07:09:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4365"},"modified":"2016-07-10T12:39:46","modified_gmt":"2016-07-10T07:09:46","slug":"fatherhood-babies-marriage-millennial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=4365","title":{"rendered":"What It Means to Be \u201cthe Guy Who Wants Babies\u201d in An Age Where Everyone is \u201cChildfree By Choice\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I<\/span>was 19, when I held my <\/p>niece<\/a> for the first time. I was petrified. She was surprisingly sprightly for a newborn, and I was worried she\u2019d slip out of my arms. What if I held her and she began crying and then started wailing each time she saw me? Despite umpteen hand washes and multiple splotches of sanitiser, I feared my hands just weren\u2019t clean enough. But after enough goading from my sister, I came closer. My baby niece reached out with her little hand and began tracing her finger \u2014 which I swear was no bigger than a grape \u2014 along the patchy excuse for a beard growing on my face. At that moment, I was certain of one thing: I had no idea what career I wanted to choose, no clue how my romantic life world turn out\u2026 all I knew was, I wanted to fast-forward time and make babies of my own.\n\nThis was 2011. And since then this feeling \u2013 my baby fever \u2013 hasn\u2019t died down. <\/span>\n\nBaby fever is a legit physical and emotional phenomenon that makes you believe you are ready for fatherhood<\/a>. If, like me, you often find yourself waving eagerly at every stroller you pass by in a mall, or follow more cute_babypix Instagram accounts than you do of celebrities, then you might be inflicted with baby fever too.\n<\/span>In the age of right swipes, when my friends are thinking of the next hot date, I\u2019m thinking kids. It makes me wonder if I belong to the \u201970s and the \u201980s. Because at my age, my mom was already, well, my mom. Today, being married with kids at 27 seems a bit out of character, especially in the circles we occupy. In fact, with more and more couples deciding to be \u201cbaby free by choice\u201d, I\u2019m the only man in my gang of boys who seems to be chasing the baby dream. <\/span>\n\nMy stubborn obsession with wanting to be a father one day, despite having no real prospects of marriage<\/a> to speak of, has been an enduring point of contention among my friends. \u201cIsn\u2019t it odd that you want kids but aren\u2019t really eager about marriage?\u201d my curious cohorts often enquire. It might be \u201codd\u201d but the truth is, I\u2019m not alone.<\/span>\n

Baby fever is a legit physical and emotional phenomenon that makes you believe you are ready for fatherhood.<\/blockquote>\nBaby fever isn\u2019t a feeling exclusive to women<\/a> with \u201cticking biological clocks\u201d. Globally, many men have <\/span>admitted<\/span><\/a> to it at various stages throughout their 20s. And there is also <\/span>evidence<\/span><\/a> to prove that as men grow older, we are actually more likely than our women counterparts to develop an insatiable urge for raising a child. Answering an aptly titled Reddit thread, \u201cWhat\u2019s baby fever like for men?\u201d, commenter <\/span>AnArcher<\/span><\/a> explains, \u201cI never thought of it as baby fever, but I really, really wanted to have a baby \u2013 before my wife did actually, when I was in my late 20s. What really pushed it over the edge for me was seeing 12- to 15-month-olds (the age where they just begin to walk) in Halloween costumes,\u201d he confessed. <\/span>\n\nWhat Halloween costumes did to the Reddit guy, my niece\u2019s little fingers did to me. And this opens me up to ridicule from my friends<\/a> and makes me appear like a \u201csoftie\u201d on dates. When questions like, \u201cDo you eventually want marriage and children?\u201d pop up, usually on third dates, most would go for a casual, breezy reply. \u201cMaybe in my early 30s\u2026\u201d or something flippant like, \u201cEww no kids, I am like a child myself, hehe.\u201d But because I am a lowkey 27-year-old Danny Tanner, my knee-jerk reaction to this begins with cutting off my unsuspecting date mid-sentence with, \u201cMarriage ka pata nahi, but yes, definitely want kids. Baccho ke liye hi toh shaadi tolerate karenge, amirite? Ahaha!\u201d Needless to say, I haven\u2019t been on very many fourth dates.<\/span>\n\nIt\u2019s been over 10 years since I realised I wanted to have children and my desire has only strengthened over the years. I was happy to be a hands-on \u201cdiaper mama\u201d but now that that my niece is at an age where she is too cool to enjoy her uncle\u2019s company, I miss splurging on Mother Care onesies and watching Disney with her. It breaks my heart a little bit when my now eight-year-old niece refuses to sing along as Elsa to my Anna if I initiate our once-regularly performed rendition of <\/span>Frozen<\/span><\/i>\u2019s \u201cDo You Want to Build a Snowman?\u201d Say what you will about \u201990s kids, but at least we stuck to a fad longer than just a couple of years. Damn these <\/span>Gen Alpha brats<\/span><\/a>!<\/span>\n\nSo I\u2019ve decided to go easy on the dad-bod plans (for now). Perhaps enjoy the phase without diapers to change, or apologies to make on behalf of my child\u2019s behaviour. It makes me cherish my singlehood<\/a>, value my bachelorhood, and make the most of the perks of being the fun uncle instead of responsible dad. Like racking up those Insta story aww-reaccs, for example. <\/span>\n\nBut who am I kidding? Having a girlfriend is cool, but have you ever experienced that feeling of nirvana when you smell a baby\u2019s head? Yeah, man, get the cradles.<\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am a millennial who wants kids. There. I said it. I’ve had a case of baby fever since I first held my niece. This opens me up to ridicule from my friends and makes me appear like a \u201csoftie\u201d on dates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":4366,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[439],"tags":[1390,18,443,6381,1867,244],"class_list":["post-4365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-modern-family","tag-baby","tag-family","tag-father","tag-fatherhood","tag-kids","tag-parenthood"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat It Means to Be \u201cthe Guy Who Wants Babies\u201d in An Age Where Everyone is \u201cChildfree By Choice\u201d<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I am a millennial who wants kids. There. I said it. I've had a case of baby fever since I first held my niece. 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