Over time the world ceased to surprise me. I saw its machinations, and became increasingly unimpressed. I saw my own machinations, and became equally unimpressed. (View Highlight)
I thought becoming jaded was a natural part of growing up. Instead, becoming un-jaded is what happened when I finally did grow up, and it has radically improved my quality of life. It’s a revivification I think many parents experience (and is only sometimes expressed). (View Highlight)
I write this, flirting with sappiness, because it’s become surprisingly easy to find prominent examples of parents arguing the exact opposite: that children have fundamentally worsened their lives. At least in that the “I regret becoming a parent, actually” genre of essay has become popular in high-profile outlets. Examples over the last few years include publications in Buzzfeed, The Atlantic, TIME magazine, Business Insider, Newsweek, The Independent, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Guardian, etc. Many of the pieces in the genre have gone viral. E.g., the TIME piece from this year, “The Parents Who Regret Having Children” was shared to the tune of millions of views and included parents describing their new identities as “domestic gulag.” (View Highlight)
