[jokethrowaway]

Being a parent with two small kids in a foreign country and no family support (plus, you know, the usual global pandemic), it has definitely been the worse experience of my life. My wife doesn't work, money is not a problem but the lack of sleep and freedom to do a lot of things is hard to swallow.

Nature plays a big role in it: I really felt like having kids (which surprised me) and I sure will do everything I can to protect them, but my life is a constant fight with depression.

There is probably the opposite mechanism at play: having invested years of pain in them, you value your kids the more time passes.

I'm sure things will improve once they're 4-5 and they're a bit better behaved / we can start sleeping again / we can start having some time for ourselves as well.