3 ms·

I don't think that considering your child the most important thing in the world is good for anybody (including your child): 1) Your wife is probably more impor

I don't think that considering your child the most important thing in the world is good for anybody (including your child): 1) Your wife is probably more important, than your child: in 20 years your child would be gone (to have separate life), but you would stay with your wife longer than that. 2) You can have several children. Would you name one of them as "the most important"? 3) If you consider you child the most important -- it may spoil the child. That said -- children are definitely important part of your life.

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
- abstractbill 16y ago
  Once you have kids ... They are more important than anything. Nope. Not for my wife and I. Our marriage comes first, our children a very close second. ...your children should mean absolutely everything to you. Nothing else should matter in the world. A lot of other things matter in my world. My daughter is just one aspect of my life (albeit one of the most awesome aspects!). I grew up with parents who sacrificed way too much of their own lives "for the children", with horrible consequences (they fought constantly, and I grew up wishing they would get a divorce).
araneae 16y ago
This could be true for humans in general, if humans weren't products of evolution. Ever notice that anyone who writes blog posts about babies on HN are absurdly pro-baby? It's because we wouldn't pass on our genes if we weren't. It's possible for a father, perhaps, to consider the wife more important (after all, she can produce more babies!) but I doubt most mothers would agree that the husband is more important than the child, especially since a growing number of them don't even have one. Re: 3, thinking that your child is the most important thing in your life has little bearing on how you raise them, except perhaps on the tail end where parents do not care at all and the child ends up being taken away by the DSS.
- dennisgorelik 16y ago
  1) The reason why baby-posters are so pro-baby is not as much about natural selection, but more about different kind of filter: the one who is NOT pro-baby is less likely to write about babies. Not that it matters in the context of this discussion though :-) 2) Wife can not only produce more babies, but also raise existing kids, support the family (financially and otherwise), and more. The same is applicable to the husband. 3) Internal thinking affects your behavior. A lot. So if you think that your kid is THE MOST important thing in your life -- you are more likely to make mistakes and bad choices.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

abstractbill 16y ago
Once you have kids ... They are more important than anything. Nope. Not for my wife and I. Our marriage comes first, our children a very close second. ...your children should mean absolutely everything to you. Nothing else should matter in the world. A lot of other things matter in my world. My daughter is just one aspect of my life (albeit one of the most awesome aspects!). I grew up with parents who sacrificed way too much of their own lives "for the children", with horrible consequences (they fought constantly, and I grew up wishing they would get a divorce).

araneae 16y ago

This could be true for humans in general, if humans weren't products of evolution. Ever notice that anyone who writes blog posts about babies on HN are absurdly pro-baby? It's because we wouldn't pass on our genes if we weren't. It's possible for a father, perhaps, to consider the wife more important (after all, she can produce more babies!) but I doubt most mothers would agree that the husband is more important than the child, especially since a growing number of them don't even have one. Re: 3, thinking that your child is the most important thing in your life has little bearing on how you raise them, except perhaps on the tail end where parents do not care at all and the child ends up being taken away by the DSS.

dennisgorelik 16y ago
1) The reason why baby-posters are so pro-baby is not as much about natural selection, but more about different kind of filter: the one who is NOT pro-baby is less likely to write about babies. Not that it matters in the context of this discussion though :-) 2) Wife can not only produce more babies, but also raise existing kids, support the family (financially and otherwise), and more. The same is applicable to the husband. 3) Internal thinking affects your behavior. A lot. So if you think that your kid is THE MOST important thing in your life -- you are more likely to make mistakes and bad choices.