How Dolly Parton Answers the Question “Why Don’t You Have Children?” Question
As far as people are concerned, Dolly Parton belongs to a special category. She has amassed an unusually diverse and loyal fan base in her over fifty years of career. (This is the theme of the great America Dolly Parton podcast if you want to dive deep into her life and career.)
But despite the fact that she writes, records and performs countless songs, has an acting career and is a renowned philanthropist, Parton is still – at the age of 74 – asked about the fact that she has no children. It’s a topic that she has touched on countless times over the years, including a recent interview with Oprah Winfrey . If you find yourself in a similar position (you were asked why you have no children, and you are not a living legend in a conversation with Oprah), you can borrow one of her answers.
What Dolly Parton Says About She Has No Children
First, Parton discusses how various aspects of her personal life have given her the space she needs to be productive professionally. “Since I had no children and my husband was quite independent, I had freedom, ” she told Winfrey . “So I think a big part of my success is that I was free to work.”
Back in 2017, when the still-working Matt Lauer asked about her absence of children – and the fact that children seem to love her – Parton made a very strong conclusion that it is entirely possible to have great relationships with children and not be mother. myself. And besides being raised in a large family, she has also been a part of the lives of millions of children thanks to her library of imagination , which has given away nearly 150 million books, and that number continues to grow.
This surfaced again in a recent interview with Parton Winfrey :
I didn’t have children because I believed that God didn’t mean that I had children, so that all children could be mine, so I could do things like the imagination library, because if I didn’t have there was freedom to work, I would not. ” I did everything I did. I could not do everything that I am doing now.
To be clear, you don’t have to explain to anyone why you’re not a parent, but if you find yourself in a position (especially on holidays) where it’s easier to end a conversation with an answer, you may want to borrow some version of Parton.
It doesn’t have to involve God or run your own imagination library (although it doesn’t hurt), but pointing out that there are many other meaningful ways to contribute to the world that don’t involve parenting can help. …