I think one kid improved my life quite a bit. At three of them, it's hard to really enjoy time with any of 'em—not impossible, but much, much harder—yet the amo

I think one kid improved my life quite a bit. At three of them, it's hard to really enjoy time with any of 'em—not impossible, but much, much harder—yet the amount of time, effort, and money they take is way higher. Probably worse than no kids from a pure how-happy-am-I-on-average perspective. I'd think the relationships between the personal happiness and life-satisfaction at various states looks something like: three kids < no kids or two kids < one kid But they're all youngish, so we'll see how things change as they get older. Reckon there'll be a couple years in the middle where things are pretty good, then, odds are at least one or two of them will make life a living hell during their teenage years. But when they're grown up and I'm old probably that'll be OK. [EDIT] though we'll see how I feel at 55 when I make the mistake of running the numbers and realize I could have already retired if we'd had zero :-/