If you have kids, or are thinking about it, I recommend this excellent article:
All Joy And No Fun: Why Parents Hate Parenting - New York Magazine
I think that “a high-amplitude, high-frequency sine curve” might be the best one-line description of parenting that I’ve come across. And “[kids] are a huge source of joy, but they turn every other source of joy to shit” is a very close second.
For what it is worth, this is my advice for new parents:
- Don’t lock them in a cupboard
- Don’t drop them on their head
It’s pretty well established, I think, that doing both of these things is likely to lead to problems.
Even if you do one of these things, it may still be okay provided you don’t do the other.
Anything else you do or don’t do may or may not help, but probably won’t hurt too much either.
Either way, and most importantly, don’t get too hung up on the advice you’re sure to get from every other man and his dog, because it’s likely based on too small a sample size anyway. 🙂
Other Recommended Reading:
- What makes a perfect parent? - SMH Blog
- Lies we tell kids - Paul Graham
- In defense of sibling rivalry - DoubleX
- The years are short - Happiness Project