NZ child-free woman sparks debate after saying ‘mum friends’ aren’t compatible with her life

Kiwi woman Danni Duncan is a proud child-free woman in her 30s but her recent comments have sparked debate. Photo / Instagram

A childless New Zealand woman has ignited an online debate after revealing why she prefers her friends to be childless.

The Daily Mail has reported the woman - Danni Duncan - has a large online following with her content being aimed at childless, married women in their 30s.

Now, she has sparked a fierce debate and divided fans when she uploaded a video explaining why she prefers to be friends with people who like her, have no children.

While some people agree with the woman, others feel as though it’s an unreasonable outlook and very “judgemental”, but Duncan continued to defend her decision.

Replying to a comment on TikTok she said: “I think a key thing that people are missing is that we’re choosing to be child-free, choosing to have a lifestyle that doesn’t include children in it.

“So when all of our friends have children, well, you can see how that doesn’t really match up.”

@danni___duncan

♬ original sound - Danni Duncan

Duncan added that wanting to have child-free friends does not mean she doesn’t want to be friends with people who are parents but that she finds it easier to make plans with people who aren’t.

“It would be really great to have friends that are choosing the same lifestyle as us so that we don’t have to work out our social times around bed times, around eating times, around school holidays,” she said.

The Kiwi influencer, who has a following of over 100,000 people on TikTok, also said her choice to be childless and preference towards child-free friends does not mean she doesn’t enjoy time with children as she often sees her young nieces and used to work with children as a speech language and behaviour therapist.

Many followers of Duncan defended her explanation, with one saying “same way new mums want other mum friends”.

Another person commented: “If a parent looked around and said ‘wow all of my friends are childless, I should really meet some fellow parents’, literally no one would object.”

However, not everyone felt the same. One person said, “What’s wrong with having friends with children? I don’t get this, I feel it’s very judgemental towards parents!”

Another said, “Do you have a personality other than being child-free?”

Duncan consistently defends herself on her social media account, claiming being child-free is a niche on the app and she has created a community around the topic, stating it’s “no different” to how parents or other influencers do it.