DEAR ABBY: I would love to see you refer to couples without children as "child-free" instead of "childless." Not every couple wants to have children. The term "childless" sounds like something is missing. -- FREE IN MASSACHUSETTS
DEAR FREE: You make a good point. But I usually couch my terminology according to what the writer has stated. If someone refers to her- or himself as childless, I feel it would be wrong to imply something the person didn't.