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Parents are Delusional?

This is a stupid article that draws the wrong conclusions from a poorly designed study.

Here's a better test of whether parents enjoy parenting: go to their house and try to take the kids away. Tabulate those statistics and get back to me.
 
Loss Leader said:
This is a stupid article that draws the wrong conclusions from a poorly designed study.

Here's a better test of whether parents enjoy parenting: go to their house and try to take the kids away. Tabulate those statistics and get back to me.
Click to expand...

Win! :cool:
 
gumboot said:
That article reads like total crud. This jumped out at me:



This is a weak argument on two points. Firstly, there's a leap of logic here. Assuming the referenced research is true, just because a parent finds spending time with a child less rewarding than they anticipated doesn't mean it's not actually rewarding, or that it's less rewarding than other activities. The writer is drawing an unjustified conclusion. I'd propose that most people probably over estimate the level of enjoyment they're going to get from an activity they perceive as rewarding.
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My issue with that argument is, I would say 99% of the things I've tried, didn't even come close to as rewarding as I thought it would be; everything from trying a specific food that came highly recommended to parasailing. I thought that was a typical side effect of anticipation vs actual experience.
 
Loss Leader said:
This is a stupid article that draws the wrong conclusions from a poorly designed study.

Here's a better test of whether parents enjoy parenting: go to their house and try to take the kids away. Tabulate those statistics and get back to me.
Click to expand...

Don't give me a warning like that; I'll have their bags packed, beds taken apart, and rooms combined to make a dedicated theater before you finish the sentence. :D
 
Loss Leader said:
This is a stupid article that draws the wrong conclusions from a poorly designed study.

Here's a better test of whether parents enjoy parenting: go to their house and try to take the kids away. Tabulate those statistics and get back to me.
Click to expand...

That would have a very different outcome than the article, I would expect. Even teething, I still love my son. My favorite thing he has started doing now - trying to blow raspberries all the time... that and that he cuddles back...
 
sgtbaker said:
Don't give me a warning like that; I'll have their bags packed, beds taken apart, and rooms combined to make a dedicated theater before you finish the sentence.
Click to expand...


Oh, when my oldest moves out I am going to turn his entire room into a huge bathroom with one of those showers that shoots water from ninety-six different places and chrome fixtures everywhere. Of course, my oldest is 5, but I am really looking forward to that master bath.
 
-Quote:
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, we thought nothing of requiring kids to get jobs even before they hit puberty. Few thought of it as abuse. Reformers helped change the system — and rightly so — so that children could be educated. But this created a conundrum. As Eibach and Mock write, “As children's economic value plummeted, their perceived emotional value rose, creating a new cultural model of childhood that [one researcher] aptly dubbed ‘the economically worthless but emotionally priceless child.'”-

What a revolting human being this person is.

There seems to be a real modern phenomenon of people who actively dislike children and think we should stop having them, usually so we can party and buy new cars. It's a shame their parents didn't share their stance.
 
sgtbaker said:
My issue with that argument is, I would say 99% of the things I've tried, didn't even come close to as rewarding as I thought it would be; everything from trying a specific food that came highly recommended to parasailing. I thought that was a typical side effect of anticipation vs actual experience.
Click to expand...


Exactly.
 
The study wasn't what I thought it would be about - I though it was going to focus on the blindness parents exhibit in evaluating their child's performance/competency.

I have children. Would I have been happier if I hadn't had them? I really don't know - it's not like you can compare two lifelines and score the happies.

I don't call BS because I'm not a psych. I have no rational basis to call foul on the study, even though it may label me delusional. After all, I would protest at that label if I were delusional, hmmm?????
 
Kid Eager said:
I have children. Would I have been happier if I hadn't had them? I really don't know - it's not like you can compare two lifelines and score the happies.
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I can come very close.

My wife and I were married 16 years before having any kids, so I have lived a very full childless life. We even lived in a stable working environment, including having me working and her going to school, and both of us working full time. We traveled extensively (there are perks to my job), and owned a big house and made lots of money.

Then we had our first, and now our second. We we talk about it very often how we are far happier now, with children, than we were without. Sure, we miss things we had and could do before, but having kids more than makes up for it.

Really, is it that hard to compare ages 35 - 40 vs 40 - 45?

35 - 40: childless
40 - 45: with kids

Everything else is the same.

No comparison.
 
Hamsterfan said:
I was just reading this on the net - what do you think?

http://healthland.time.com/2011/03/04/why-having-kids-is-foolish/?xid=yahoo-feat

As a new parent myself, I admit I am a bit biased in favor of having kids. I do acknowledge the validity of their stand that kids are expensive - in time and money. But, perhaps being deluded, I do think experience worth it, at least so far.
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The idea never held any attraction for me.
Having seen many friends raise kids, I think I recognise what I call the "Edsel effect".
Nobody who has bought a complete clunker ever admits it. He always has reasons why his car is exactly what he wanted- and when he sells it after only a year it's because he got a deal too good to turn down from a used car dealer.

Riiight.

Trouble is, you can't sell the kids.

Legally.

So when people tell me how smart and wonderful their kids are and how they absolutely wouldn't be without them, I have this tiny, sceptical twinge.

I never yet met a kid named "Edsel".
 
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