For the renowned Barranquilla television presenter Linda Palma, children represent a factor that is scarce these days: time. They have discussed the matter at length with her husband, Diego Pulecio, lead singer of the band Don Tetto, and they came to the conclusion that professional commitments do not allow them to assume such responsibility.
“Until now, I have never wanted to and we have talked regarding it, we are not interested. It has nothing to do with my health problems, it is due to time issues, let’s say that Diego and I live alone. Regardless of whether it is a puppy, kitten or a baby, it is a big responsibility ”assures the presenter of Show Caracol.
The actress and model Nataly Umaña, whom Colombians have seen in productions such as The detectives and Víctor and Dejémonos de Vargas, also has her reasons for having decided not to become a mother: “The subject of motherhood seems beautiful to me, but the one we experience at a social and political level is a horrible uncertainty. So I think it’s a very brave act to risk bringing a life into this world as it is.”
María Claudia Torres, also an actress in productions such as The daughter of the mariachi and the dolls of the mafia, says that she did not develop what is called the maternal instinct. “I missed that little screw. Since I can remember, it never caught my attention. Since I was a child, I was already showing signs of it and, as I grew older, it became a fixed idea in my head. And I have always said that it is a decision that I have been completely sure of ”.
He adds that, perhaps, thanks to that conviction, “I was able to join my life with a man who already had two children. Because it seemed terrible to me that, at some point, the person with whom one decided to share his life would want children and one cannot restrict that right to someone. I have never regretted that decision, and even more with everything that is seen now, because one wonders what awaits this generation following 20 or 30 years”.
In the same sense, the presenter and comedian Alejandra Azcárate pronounces herself, who considers that a child, far from what many think, should not become a kind of insurance that guarantees company in old age: “It is not the solution to not being alone if you get old, it is not leaving a seed in the world, it is the most radical decision in life, the most important responsibility that human beings have.”
And she explains that “even if it sounds selfish to many people”, and at the risk of being judged for her decision, she does not want to sacrifice her freedom for a child: “I live happily as I am, I do not want to anchor myself to anyone, I do not want ties of any kind , I don’t want to spend my life setting an example for a third party or anguished regarding it, ”says the comedian, who made the decision not to become a mother since she was very young.
The actress Amparo Grisales is also convinced of this, who, like celebrities such as Catherine Siachoque, privileged their professional careers in the artistic field over the desire to be mothers. The so-called Diva from Colombia confesses that at a time in her life she felt that women were attacking her, “because it was not politically correct to say that she did not want to have a child, when everyone’s madness was to see me pregnant. The truth is that if she had wanted to have a child she would have had it, even without a stable partner”.
However, Grisales points out that “the overpopulation of the world” and “living in a chaotic time in which young people feel lost and dragged before temptations such as drugs and alcohol” the
They convinced her that it was best to focus on her acting career.
Indeed, The Dane published a few days ago the figures related to births and deaths between 2022 and 2023 with a cut-off at the end of last January.
One of the most revealing data from that study shows that “during the last ten years there has been a downward trend in the number of births in Colombia.”
The analysis of these figures allows us to infer that the decrease for 2022 is the most marked, with a reduction of 7.7 percent compared to 2021, which makes it a “historic figure”, according to the entity.
So, in 2022, 569,311 babies were born, while in 2021 there were 616,914 infants.
Another striking fact is that even the births of immigrant mothers from Venezuela also decreased compared to the last year. The figure went from 10.9 percent in 2021 to 8.2 percent in 2022.
For family psychologist Nidia Ramos, the phenomenon has several explanations. “There are some of a practical nature: Life is becoming more and more expensive and a child implies a series of expenses that take up a large percentage of the total household income”, he says.
There are other emotional explanations: “Many young people feel that in a country like Colombia there is not much of a future. Because not even studying a professional career, which implies a million-dollar economic effort, guarantees a good job or a good future. So, many have understood that they do better without children”.