09 Jul 08
Jason Kottke pulls together some interesting articles and commentary about parental unhappiness.
My take is that the kids aren’t the problem; it’s all the other stuff. You just aren’t able to do all the stuff you used to enjoy doing before you had kids and if you think you can, of course you’re going to be unhappy when it doesn’t work out that way. You need to be prepared and make a conscious choice: “I’m choosing to enrich my life with a child *but* as a tradeoff, I won’t be able to live the way I was before.”
So true. One of the hardest parts about being a parent is becoming less selfish. If you can learn that then changing diapers, flying boogies, temper tantrums, late nights, and whatever else kids throw at you isn’t so bad.
