I see a lot of commentary, especially on Lemmy and Reddit, about how awful children are and how wonderful adulthood without kids is. And if you don’t want them, more power to you.
On the other hand, many people are parents and love having children! I want to hear some of the positive stories. What about being a parent makes your life better? What’s your favorite thing about your kids?
Yeah, parenthood is stressful. I have less personal time. A loooot less expendable income. But when I pick my 3 year old up from daycare, and she’s so excited to see me, you’d think she hadn’t seen me in days, my heart just melts. It’s so interesting to hear her take on things. The stories she makes up with her toys. Hear her describe what’s going on in her abstract scribbles.
She loves music. Michael Jackson, The Wallfowers, and Sam the Sham are surprise favorites at the moment. Aside from the soundtracks to Frozen and the Little Mermaid.
Seeing her get excited about things that we take for granted brings joy back into my life. Even something mundane like a Spirit plane coming in to land by the airport by us. She was so excited because it was yellow. Ford Fusions are “Shark Cars” and she always loves pointing them out. Putting stuff on the checkout conveyor at the grocery store. Turning on light switches. Riding Sandy ar Meijer.
Now, she’s getting into board and card games and it’s so cool to have family game nights. Primarily dominoes and Uno. I have a ton of weird vintage board games in the basement I cannot wait to bust out when she’s older.
I could go on and on about why I love being a dad. The day she was born, from the moment I held her, I knew that I would fully be capable of killing someone. As long as I am alive and capable, I will do everything in my power to keep anyone from harming her. She is everything to me.