Most proud parents think the news of a child’s arrival should be shouted from the rooftops for everyone to hear.
Family and friends are showered with photos, given minute-by-minute updates on the baby’s bodily functions and forced to listen to “cute” gurgling down the phone.
But one childless woman from Brighton has had enough of hearing about other people’s little bundles of joy.
Chloe Peacock has founded a fast-growing club for ladies who hate it when parents “endlessly” talk about their kids.
The 37-year-old’s Professional Aunties, No Kids (PANKS) group, meets every week and now has 80 female members.
Ground rules include no parents, no men – and definitely no talk of crèches, christenings or catchment areas.
Ms Peacock, 37, said: “When women hit a certain age they spend the first hour of any conversation talking about nappies. If you haven’t had kids it can get quite tiresome.
“I got so sick of all the baby updates on Facebook every five minutes. I thought I can’t be the only one who hates this – and it turns out I’m not.”
Babies off agenda
Determined to “do something”, the part-time university lecturer formed the PANKS group in August 2012 to give like-minded women a place to go where baby talk was firmly off the agenda.
She said: “It’s like going to a pub with a group of friends and they all start talking about football. If you’re not into sports, you feel excluded, and it would be seen socially as quite rude.
“But unfortunately women who have kids do that to their friends all the time. They tell me I ‘don’t understand’ just because I don’t have any children.”
The club, described by founder Ms Peacock as “like the Women’s Institute, but sexier”, go on regular outings to karaoke bars and pottery classes.
Child-free choice
Ages range from 20 to 50 and the group includes “high flying career women”.
Some members are child-free by choice but others have been told they cannot have children at all.
Ms Peacock said: “It’s quite nice for them not to have to hear about other people’s kids all the time.
“They tell me they don’t have to explain themselves and that they don’t have to constantly hear about people being pregnant.”
But the PANKS founder revealed she was planning to have children herself later in life, but only when she met the right person.
She said: “I have promised that if I have kids I won’t go over to the dark side and bore all my friends.”
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