djoffcl

Wow, this is a great question. Having a child is life altering, fulfilling, stressful, and wonderful all at the same time. I have a just turned 3 year old and another on the way and what I will say is this— we love being parents because we wanted to have kids and have been trying for a long time. Has it been stressful and taxing, yes. But, having wanted to have kids it doesn’t feel as bad. Does it take a toll on your relationship— absolutely because your differences get a little highlighted with parenting styles. Would I change our decision, absolutely not. Having kids is super eye opening (in all of the ways) and has really made us reflect on how we were parented, how we want to be better for our kids, etc. If having kids weren’t so expensive we’d have more.

The other thing I’d say is having support around you and available is helpful (like grandparents or siblings, etc), making decent money (hate to say it but this would all be much harder if we were didn’t have good jobs), and again WANTING to have kids is huge. Don’t have kids because you feel pressured… being ain’t parent isn’t for the weak and the kid didn’t asked to be here so if that sounds like too much, better to hold off and be able to do whatever you want when you want (cuz that goes out of the window when you have a kid, until they’re out your house).