THE BABY QUESTION

I have to admit that there are occasions when I momentarily hesitate before buying thinking that the magazine’s target audience are expatriate wives. However, I must congratulate you for the bold, provocative article in your March 2017 issue: “The Baby Question”, by Verne Maree.

Several years ago, while sitting beside a swimming pool in Kota Kinabalu with two friends, we discussed our feelings about not having children. Like Verne, two of us had felt we could either take it or leave it. The third friend was less emphatic and speculated that her choice to be a foster parent was, to some extent, motivated by this ambivalence.

Though my mother died when I was seven, I had a very happy childhood, raised by my father and my brother. Perhaps I lacked the socialisation skills to become a mother. Anyway, from now on, I will proudly describe myself as “child-free” – so thank you, and particularly Verne Maree.