Millennials who don't want kids explain their choice to be child-free, prioritize travel, and pursue their 'dream life'

30.09.2024 - 20:07 / insider.com

When Erin Hynes and Lucas Amormino quit their jobs in Canada to travel around the world for six months, most of their loved ones were supportive.

But it did raise a few eyebrows.

"You definitely get questions like, 'Well, what about having kids?'" Hynes, 34, told Business Insider. "A lot of people around us, they're at the stage where they're having kids, they're buying houses, and we're doing not that. So you get some side eye."

Hynes and her husband Amormino, 33, are what are commonly known as DINKS — dual income, no kids.

And they have zero plans to change that, as Hynes said they've consciously decided not to expand their family beyond themselves and their beloved pet cat.

"Major respect for people who choose to be parents, but it's just not the path that we think is right for us," she said.

The Canadian couple are not the only people in their generation eschewing parenthood.

As BI reported in July, an HSBC global economist estimated that birth rates in the US are steadily dropping each year, which could have negative repercussions for the economy. The estimates are in line with how, in 2022, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the national birth rate had plunged 53% fromits 1960 level.

For young professionals like Hynes and Amormino, taking kids out of the equation sets them "up to have a life that continues to involve a lot of travel" without sacrifice.

As Hynes put it, it's their "dream life."

Hynes described the first half of 2024 as a fever dream. After quitting their jobs in December 2023, which earned them a combined salary of 196,000 Canadian dollars, oraround $143,800, theyspent months traveling through Tanzania, Nepal, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Japan, Georgia, and Italy.

In the spring, realizing their savings for the trip were running low, they started applying for jobs and eventually landed new roles they started in July.

Now that they're home, the couple is already planning new adventures, which Hynes said wouldn't be as straightforward if they had kids.

"We both have our moments or days where one of us is feeling more down about it than the other," Hynes said. So, she added, they've done what "every seasoned traveler does" and booked another trip to combat the blues — this time to Iceland.

In the future, Hynes said they plan to find ways to travel and work simultaneously.

"We're actually talking more about doing a remote working trip where we settle down in one place for a month at a time and continue working," she said, adding that the strategy means they'll get to explore "while also earning an income and being able to save at the same time."