Children - Are They Worth It?

What are your thoughts?

Children - Are They Worth It?

The time. The money. The Effort. The caring. The mess. The poopy diapers.

Absolutely...the good, the bad, the ugly...wouldn't trade 'em for nothin' in the world...wouldn't give a plug nickel for 3 more just like 'em...:lol:

I messed up and meant for the votes to be public. Can a Mod change that? Not sure.

My children are worth it. Other people’s are not.

In my personal opinion.... there is nothing more fulfilling in this world.

but it isn't for everyone... if you are dysfunctional or selfish...or you like dysfunctional or selfish people as lovers, don't do it... sort yourself out first

I love children.

Hopefully I'll be fortunate enough to experience and share in motherhood myself one day. I only hope I'll be as good a parent as my Mum and Dad were.

Bodhisattva said:

What are your thoughts?

Children - Are They Worth It?

The time. The money. The Effort. The caring. The mess. The poopy diapers.

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Absolutely YES!!

(but only if you are committed to having children)

Well in America now we as a society do no where near enough, we put too much pressure on parents especially economically, and we encourage those at the bottom of society to reproduce and discourage those in the middle because we make it so damned expensive to have kids and we being morons we tend to criminalize parenting and we all round tend to suck at raising adults....which all results in the product generally sucking.

And I am exactly where my mom was (not dad, he died at age 44) in having kids who know a slight fraction of what I have done in this life for them, and dont tend to appreciate even that as much as I would like to see (speaking as a 10 year stay at home homeschooling father with wife who was mostly gone and never was more than a ceremonial parent...the work was 90+% me). And my work was petty damn good.

I say yes. I did this life on purpose in part because I have a workaholic damaged by abuse wife ill suited to be a parent, and because I was as a young man already beginning to see how corrupt this society is and thus disinclined to invest into it, and because of my own issues was on my way to failing out of the MSU School of Engineering. And given my opinions of my own childhood I had this determination to do better than my dad, as a way to demonstrate to myself how much he sucked...so I did this willfully. There were some years that I wondered if I made a mistake but as the kids get older and as they learn and as they mostly do great they begin to see things that they did not used to see, they appreciate me more, and I do like that....watching that light bulb go off in one of the kids and getting a "Thanks Dad".

I like more that it happens more the more years pass.

Bodhisattva said:

I messed up and meant for the votes to be public. Can a Mod change that? Not sure.

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I tried, but the public option is not available.


Oh, and yes. They are defo worth it. I treasure mine.

Gina said:

I tried, but the public option is not available.

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Thanks Gina!!

Oh, and yes. They are defo worth it. I treasure mine.

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Yes! (/End Thread)

Children - Are They Worth It?

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we're currently planning to expand our family. neither of us have kids yet. i hope that an introverted dude like me can be a good dad.

From a purely economic standpoint, no way are kids worth it. From an emotional and family standpoint, they are definitely worth it. From a purely male standpoint, having kids is a great risk. If the marriage goes sour there will be child support, fights over visitation, maybe a step-dad, or two, and the mother will get custody 99% of the time. Along with the home. I've been married 47 years, have four grown kids and several grand-kids, but I've seen several good men destroyed financially and emotionally in a divorce with kids.

Bodhisattva said:

What are your thoughts?

Children - Are They Worth It?

The time. The money. The Effort. The caring. The mess. The poopy diapers.

Click to expand...

They're only worth it if I get grandkids out of the deal.

Winchester said:

They're only worth it if I get grandkids out of the deal.

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Not in the cards for us....

The line stops here.

Helix said:

we're currently planning to expand our family. neither of us have kids yet. i hope that an introverted dude like me can be a good dad.

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I'm sure you'll be an awesome dad, Helix.

Man part of me can't wait to be a dad and the other part of me thinks about all the other cool **** I could do in my life if I didn't have to spend the whole middle part of it raising kids. More and more people I know are foregoing having kids (for now, anyway). Many simply can't afford it, others feel like the worlds not a great place to bring a kid into these days, and some just don't like the idea of raising kids (or some combination of the three).

Mine were.

Yours may not. :2razz:

Helix said:

we're currently planning to expand our family. neither of us have kids yet. i hope that an introverted dude like me can be a good dad.

Click to expand...

Fatherhood isn't as hard has some make it out to be, as long as you do one thing: Every morning when you get out of bed, do the right thing.

Not the easy thing. Not the slacker thing. Not the self-gratifying thing. But the right thing!

And the right thing is often to quietly trudge-off to your less-than-perfect job, have patience with your son when you come home tired & hungry, and find the time & energy to help him with his homework or play a little catch in the back yard like you promised.



I found fatherhood to be easy, natural, and comfortable. It just seems to fit me. The only real challenge to grow into, was the need for patience. Patience is one of the highest required qualities in raising kids.

Hopefully you you had a good relationship with your dad (I did), in which case you'll naturally & instinctively know what to do. You'll become very much like him & your grandfather, as the cycle of life continues.

There aren't many men more respected, than a good father. It will be the thing you'll be most proud of, in your life.

Best of luck to you. Don't worry, you'll grow into it! :thumbs:

Nah. Got fixed some years ago when I finally found a doctor who would do it on a childfree woman, and it's still the best money I've ever spent. Never been something I've found remotely appealing, for whatever reason. People have been telling me I'll change my mind forever (and they're constantly upping the age marker for when that's supposed to happen as I grow older and keep missing them), but here I am, still completely disinterested in the idea.

And the older I get, the more I also think it was the right call for my ethics. Even if I were to wake up one day with a total personality transplant that made child-rearing seem anything more than boring at best, I would feel it pretty questionable to create one of my own with the current world situation. I'd much rather adopt instead, in the event of said personality transplant.

But at this point, I think the people insisting I'm going to have a personality transplant might need a new crystal ball. Clearly whatever one they're using for their current predictions isn't working properly.

Skeptic Bob said:

My children are worth it. Other people’s are not.

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Dammit - you beat me to it. :2wave:

Gina said:

I'm sure you'll be an awesome dad, Helix.

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Thanks. I appreciate it, and hope so.

Chomsky said:

Fatherhood isn't as hard has some make it out to be, as long as you do one thing: Every morning when you get out of bed, do the right thing.

Not the easy thing. Not the slacker thing. Not the self-gratifying thing. But the right thing!

And the right thing is often to quietly trudge-off to your less-than-perfect job, have patience with your son when you come home tired & hungry, and find the time & energy to help him with his homework or play a little catch in the back yard like you promised.



I found fatherhood to be easy, natural, and comfortable. It just seems to fit me. The only real challenge to grow into, was the need for patience. Patience is one of the highest required qualities in raising kids.

Hopefully you you had a good relationship with your dad (I did), in which case you'll naturally & instinctively know what to do. You'll become very much like him & your grandfather, as the cycle of life continues.

There aren't many men more respected, than a good father. It will be the thing you'll be most proud of, in your life.

Best of luck to you. Don't worry, you'll grow into it! :thumbs:

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My dad and my wife's dad have set the bar so high that the prospect is a bit intimidating. I hope that helps us out assuming that we become parents, but part of it also feels like taking the stage right after JimI Hendrix steps off of it.

Other
Its subjective, some will think yes some no.
Personally I am glad I have my children

Chomsky said:

Fatherhood isn't as hard has some make it out to be, as long as you do one thing: Every morning when you get out of bed, do the right thing.

Not the easy thing. Not the slacker thing. Not the self-gratifying thing. But the right thing!

And the right thing is often to quietly trudge-off to your less-than-perfect job, have patience with your son when you come home tired & hungry, and find the time & energy to help him with his homework or play a little catch in the back yard like you promised.



I found fatherhood to be easy, natural, and comfortable. It just seems to fit me. The only real challenge to grow into, was the need for patience. Patience is one of the highest required qualities in raising kids.

Hopefully you you had a good relationship with your dad (I did), in which case you'll naturally & instinctively know what to do. You'll become very much like him & your grandfather, as the cycle of life continues.

There aren't many men more respected, than a good father. It will be the thing you'll be most proud of, in your life.

Best of luck to you. Don't worry, you'll grow into it! :thumbs:

Click to expand...

Good patience, how true! Yesterday my patience was extremely tested and I am glad I didn't see this poll or else my answer might have been no. Today, I am in a much better place. I love my daughter more than anything but oh lord does she know how to test my patience. It's definitely not easy dealing with a little person just like you but hopefully I learn from my mistakes and deal with things better.