老外直言养儿的回报到底在哪里_美文

老外直言养儿的回报到底在哪里

But this is a happiness that can be felt only after you become a parent; there’s no appreciating it otherwise. However, who begets a child out of curiosity to see him or her grow up? None of my friends had this in mind when they or their wife got pregnant. For some the pregnancy was unexpected. Others had parents eager to have grandchildren. A few said they had children because a person’s life would be incomplete without one. Some said that there were millions and millions of children in the world and they just wanted to see what theirs would be like. And some said that having a child can bring stability to a troubled marriage -- but is that really true? I myself didn’t give it much thought. I just assumed it was the natural thing to do, and since my wife enjoyed big, cheerful, lively families, we went ahead and had three kids. No regrets.

I know my words won’t change any minds. What DINKs say is obviously true: children really do require lots of parental energy and money. Just watch a mother bring a sick child to a hospital; you can see the tension, the worry, and all the self-control it takes to seem calm and reassuring. No, raising a child is not easy. The happiness of seeing a child grow, in contrast, is largely in the mind of the parents, and other people cannot so readily perceive it. Indeed, if I were not writing on this subject for the BeijingYouthDaily, I would be very unlikely to go around telling all and sundry how happy I am to be the father of my trio. Little wonder, then, that so many people without children believe parenthood is all work and no fun.