Pildis joined No Kidding!-with about 200 members in the area who enjoy activities such as book clubs, hikes and dinners-because she and her husband wanted to meet other child-free people. They are just happy to send the kids home with their parents at the end of the day, she said. There is a terrifying emptiness without children, but the childless couple is too comfortable to know it. She says plenty of people without kids enjoy being around children. They fill their lonely days with golf, vacations, dinner dates, civic affairs, tranquility, leisure, and entertainment. Pildis has been a member of the Chicago chapter of the international network called No Kidding! since 1999. One common misperception is that being child-free is about disliking kids and their parents, according to Rachel Pildis, 39, of Oak Park, Ill. "They need children to work the fields, look after siblings and to provide for the parents in their old age - they simply can't manage without them on a very basic level. Childfree and Loving It is a broad and definitive exploration of non-parenthood, challenging the myths of parenthood and boldly proclaiming the joys of a childfree life. "Go out to any country in the developing world and children are still very much an integral part of society - not just a desirable `bolt-on,'" she said. "It was when I was researching my latest novel, `With or Without You,' that it really brought it home to me that kids in the Western world really have become a lifestyle choice," she said.
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