I agree with your partner.Many individuals do not wish to commit to a lifelong union such as marriage and not all people wish to produce children. Some prefer to remain celibate or remain in casual relationships they can easily break up. I personally never plan to even date. I prefer the company of my three dogs and my two cats.

That saved you five years. Better now than later.

As bad as it seems, you both are better off now that you know that the relationship would've turned sour as he doesn't want to get married in the next few years and you do.

I can actually understand your former bf. Similarly to him (or not), i do not wish to have any kids period and being on the same page with women i date on that topic is a necessary pre-requisite that needs to be established BEFORE even getting started. Sorry to say that, but the way i see it, it's totally your fault for having failed to grasp this straw and speaking about mariage and kids to a person who doesn't believe in/want these things is the easiest way to get dumped. And for the record, the guy knows what he's doing in terms of relationship management, as what women usually do to guys who aren't convinced they want kids is they get pregnant on purpose and then use the leverage to make a guy marry them and so on. Then you wonder why there are so many single moms. Some lessons are learned the hard way.

Now you have exactly five years find the right one for you.

How do you get three years into a relationship and never talk about our future plans? At least he was honest, its better of for you in the long run.

YDI, I mean what were you thinking? You didn't talk to him about it, you just said you wanted 2 things that required a lot of thinking on both partner's sides without asking him about either. Frankly what he did was an appropriate response to that. Soon we'll see an FML from the Boyfriend about his Psycho Ex

When I was 21 I told my boyfriend of 2 years that I wanted to have a child by age 30 and he freaked out. I'm sorry your boyfriend's reaction was so extreme.

My first husband knew I wanted kids and waited 3 years to tell me that he really didn't and said what I wanted to hear to get into my pants. He'd even gone so far as to get a vasectomy. I spent that whole time thinking I was the problem. It was awful. My husband now understood completely and when I asked about the 5 year limit he agreed. We had our daughter 11 days after my 26th birthday.

There is nothing wrong with that time frame. if you have been together 3 years it sounds like a conversation that should happen. I'm sorry he didn't feel the same as you op, but maybe it's a good thing, now you can find someone who wants the same future as you.