sometimes moms can be a bit dramatic. i’m saying this as a mom lol.

My parents couldn’t stomach the idea of me never marrying. They treated it as an expectation if not an outright demand and all but forced me to marry someone who hated me. Stay strong.

Seems like a significant overreaction on both parts... At the age of 16 it's kind of early to know if you will ever want to get married or have kids. Obviously OP doesn't want that now or soon, but we often change our minds as we go through the stages of our life... And obviously Mom was already planning on grandchildren - Which is definitely not her decision... OP, in this stage of your life you are completely rational not to want kids now. And you may or may not ever change your mind on that in the future. But the fact is that it's usually wisest to keep your options open and be aware that some decisions we make in the future may not be what we anticipate now. For this stage of life preparation for your future is most important. If you don't learn how to support yourself financially, you will always be under the power of others - That could be parents, BF, GF, husband or wife.... It would have been wiser to have told mom that you don't want kids or a marriage anytime soon but you didn't know how you will feel in the future. Its honest and would have let grand children obsessed mom down more gently.

This soon will change, though.

stick to your guns. Live the life that YOU find the most fulfilling. A large majority of us are child-free and never regretted it. Also... when men figure out how to be equal ******* partners then maybe we'd WANT to get married. Until then, single cat lady is idyllic in comparison to marrying the man-children.