Tina

As with all the comments – this is very personal. I haven’t read everything, but I think I’m going against the norm here when I say, at this point, I don’t think it has been worth it. I have 2 girls (2.5y and 18m), so yes, we are in the thick of it. They are healthy, “normally” behaved (at least what I would expect for their ages), we married (I’m late 40s, my husband is 50), financially stable, and many other positives. Yes, there are wonderful moments, but for me, at least now, those don’t out weight the day-to-day stress, feeling of defeat, overwhelm, anxiety, etc. We don’t have the best marriage and it seems reading some of these other books/articles about making choices might’ve helped. Sometimes I dread the weekend when the kids aren’t in daycare and long weekends are no longer something I look forward to. I look forward to Monday morning and going back to work almost every weekend. The lack of sleep, exercise, unhealthy eating, stress in our marriage – it all feels like having kids is overall unhealthy. Having the almost constant feeling that I ‘want my life back / looking forward to something else’ is painful. I am working on this in therapy, but it is an ever present weight. Then I think – this is the easy part – it only gets harder as they get older with bigger, more adult problems. It is getting a bit easier with the 2.5yo being more independent and entertaining herself. Of course now that I have them, I can’t imagine not having them, but on a whole, 100% honest, right now in life, I wouldn’t have had kids.