[react_burger38]

But here’s the thing: if you haven’t had kids yet you don’t know what you’re missing out on. Yes sometimes having kids is hard. But it also enables you to experience happiness and joy in ways that you previously haven’t been able to.

[toast0]

And if you have kids and don't like it, too bad, you're honor bound to raise them for 20+ years.

Committing to something for that long based on fear of missing out or peer pressure or lots of people do it and seem happy(ier?) is terrible judgement. Perhaps it's hard to describe the joys and hardships of parenthood, but it's possible to get most of the information even if you can't necessarily feel all the feels before you commit.

[silicon2401]

Comments like this, whether pro-children or anti-children or any other blanket statement, are disingenuous imo. It should be written:

> if I hadn’t had kids yet I wouldn't have known what I'd be missing out on. Yes sometimes having kids is hard. But it also enables me to experience happiness and joy in ways that I previously haven’t been able to.

What's true for you is not true for everyone. Seems like having children was the right choice for you, but there are plenty of people who are miserable because of and outright dislike or hate their children. Yet that doesn't mean having children was wrong for you or that yours make your life miserable.

[BeFlatXIII]

That’s tautologically true and, IMO, one of the least-convincing arguments to persuade someone who is on the fence about becoming a parent to make a child.