All Joy and No Fun
Why parents hate parenting.
Turns out that there is an apparently huge body of rigorous academic research that affirms those of us with offspring are more depressed than our childless counterparts without regard to any other aspect of our respective circumstances. In short, having and raising kids makes us miserable. However, there may be a tiny speck of hope – it appears that maybe our brains can trick us into remembering our child-rearing induced misery through rose-colored classes. Woohoo! +1 for evolutionary biology!
The very things that in the moment dampen our moods can later be sources of intense gratification, nostalgia, delight. It’s a lovely magic trick of the memory, this gilding of hard times. Perhaps it’s just the necessary alchemy we need to keep the species going. But for parents, this sleight of the mind and spell on the heart is the very definition of enchantment.
There are many choice bits in the piece, but overall I found it very thought-provoking and hitting very much close to home.
P.S. @greims posted this elsewhere, but I thought it very much worthy of a repost to this audience.
