Discussion

Derek Thompson

spiderfarmer: I'm someone who's always eager to try the next thing. That's why I'm not really good at anything. I always doubt my capabilities because I know enough to know exactly why I suck at doing the thing.Being a parent is completely different. I can't exactly move on to the next thing even if I ever wanted to. But there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that I'm good at this.Because at the very least I'm a lot better than my parents ever were. My wife and kids are all happy and I really, really enjoy being a parent. That's something a lot of children never get to experience.

abstractspoon: Having a child makes no one an expert on parenthood

brudgers: No one is an expert on parenthood.Good parenting is only doing better than your parents.

dennis_jeeves2: >Good parenting is only doing better than your parents.Also making the mistakes that your parents did not make.

Markoff: But they are certainly closer to it than childless people.

dennis_jeeves2: Perhaps even worse. I'm over simplifying: but at least some childless people know it's a lot of work and sacrifice to be a good parent, hence they opted out. On the other hand for the clueless ones, they thought of a child as something akin to having a toy - all fun and no work, only to realizes later that they are dealing with a full fledged individual.