The childless circles have this preconceived stereotype that life stops the moment you have kids for the next 20 years. What they don’t understand is that life doesn’t stop when you have kids, having kids is a part of life. Creating your own children, raising them, and watching them is in of itself a joy even if it is hard work. Parenting isn’t misery and having kids doesn’t mean you don’t have time to enjoy what you like.
Many don’t have a solid point of reference to work from. Maybe they’ve seen a movie or heard a new parents speak on the challenges of taking care of a newborn. The first year is definitely work.
After that things fall into place for the most part if the child was planned. You certainly need to have saved money and have people / family to help.
There is so much joy that comes with having a child that it can be hard to put into words.
Not only do you begin to see the world through their eyes (in a curious, more gentle and appreciative way) - which would be good for many adults - you also rediscover yourself.
You remember the way you saw the world when you were younger. You remember what made you tick. You remember what adulthood may have taken from you. Things that once may have even defined you. They bring it all back such that you see the path of your life to this point more clearly and perhaps even can chart its future course with more certainty.
I also have a much better relationship with my parents now. As immigrants raising three kids with essentially no help I have so much respect and appreciation for the sacrifices they made. I don’t think I would have ever truly understood the hardship they took on to have us in a country with more ideal economic opportunities if I didn’t have kids myself.
The childless circles have this preconceived stereotype that life stops the moment you have kids for the next 20 years. What they don’t understand is that life doesn’t stop when you have kids, having kids is a part of life. Creating your own children, raising them, and watching them is in of itself a joy even if it is hard work. Parenting isn’t misery and having kids doesn’t mean you don’t have time to enjoy what you like.
Many don’t have a solid point of reference to work from. Maybe they’ve seen a movie or heard a new parents speak on the challenges of taking care of a newborn. The first year is definitely work.
After that things fall into place for the most part if the child was planned. You certainly need to have saved money and have people / family to help.
There is so much joy that comes with having a child that it can be hard to put into words.
Not only do you begin to see the world through their eyes (in a curious, more gentle and appreciative way) - which would be good for many adults - you also rediscover yourself.
You remember the way you saw the world when you were younger. You remember what made you tick. You remember what adulthood may have taken from you. Things that once may have even defined you. They bring it all back such that you see the path of your life to this point more clearly and perhaps even can chart its future course with more certainty.
I also have a much better relationship with my parents now. As immigrants raising three kids with essentially no help I have so much respect and appreciation for the sacrifices they made. I don’t think I would have ever truly understood the hardship they took on to have us in a country with more ideal economic opportunities if I didn’t have kids myself.