When a partner said he wanted kids soon, it made me question my desire to stay child-free. I stuck to it, and we broke up.

The author has always known she doesn't want to have kids. Courtesy of Lauren Melnick I've known since I was young that I didn't want to have kids. I never wavered in my opinion — until my partner said he wanted to have kids in the next two years. After I realized my opinion hadn't changed on the matter, we broke up. When I was 6 years old, and tensions were high, my mom told me, "One day, your kids will be your future karma." I immediately yelled back, "Well, I won't have any kids then!"...