My experiences matches very well Paul's. Especially this one "I remember perfectly well what life was like before. Well enough to miss some things a lot, like t

My experiences matches very well Paul's. Especially this one "I remember perfectly well what life was like before. Well enough to miss some things a lot, like the ability to take off for some other country at a moment's notice. That was so great. Why did I never do that? See what I did there? The fact is, most of the freedom I had before kids, I never used." For me, it was the case with my ambitions. I sometimes, not so often, catch myself thinking "damn, if I just had more time (implicitly thinking - less time spent on taking care of my kids), I could achieve this and this". But that's pure bullshit. I had plenty of time before kids, and I didn't use it. Period. I actually think, I'm doing more things now, that I have kids. Precisely because I have so many responsibilities, I do care a lot about my free time and how I spend it. It turns out, we all have plenty of time. We just waste most of it. Having kids, I feel like it's my obligation to show them how to best live their life. And since kids, very often, just try to copy what you do, there is no better way to show them than just living the best life you can. Win-win. Besides, as Paul says, kids are pure joy and they are extremely interesting (especially if you are interested in machine learning :D ).