Societally, sex and happiness are correlated, if not equated. Biologically, parenthood reduces sex drive (this study seems to suggest). Not coincidentally, less sex causes fathers to think they're being deprived of what society says is necessary for happiness. Sent from my LG-LS840 using Tapatalk
Food and Board and school costs for 18 yrs 250K, activites, sports and gifts 50K; college education 50K/yr . . . . family memories, priceless. (Actually tons more discretionary cash sounds better than family memories)
No surprise that centuries of inbreeding have left Brits with a high incidence of disappointing offspring.
LOL. I wouldn't trade my kids for anything. And we're doing just fine financially for ourselves with kids.
I feel the same way. I wouldn't trade my girls for anything. I can understand where this survey is coming from, but I don't think it tells the entire story. It's not easy to be the same in your marriage after you have kids to love and parent. It changes everything, for both good and bad. The positives far outweigh the negatives for my wife and me.
Nice post. Totally agree. As Maris' joke points out, it is the Brits. Just gotta consider the source (and the source's lab rats).
There's no rule for happiness as a parent or childless couple but one thing is for sure, too many people are having kids who don't have a clue how to raise them.
Its hard to explain to someone without kids, its like trying to explain the virtues of a good round of testicle torture Dont knock it till you try it
There are a lot more highs and lows being a parent, since your own happiness is somewhat contingent on a pretty volatile small person's happiness. If you talked to 10 married couples with kids, you may find 6 of them average happiness, 3 a little unhappy because their kids were doing something a little annoying, and 1 couple truly ecstatic over their kid doing something amazing. You may take the average and say, "Hey, couples with kids are less happy." But how do you weigh the downer of cleaning a diaper vs the awesomeness of your kid saying "daddy" for the first time? Also, does this study track people's happiness in their 60's and 70's? I imagine as I approach the end of my life I'll take a lot of satisfaction in seeing my sons grow up and hopefully have their own kids.
I'd also think that there's a factor that couples with children have been where those childless couples are. I'd be interested to see the happiness factors of a couple with kids before and after kids, not those with and those without.
