Very interesting responses from both ends. I'd like to add a non-western perspective, and of someone who likes being a parent. You are not the same person you w

Very interesting responses from both ends. I'd like to add a non-western perspective, and of someone who likes being a parent. You are not the same person you were before kids. Every experience changes you, and who you are. That change is significantly more so with kids. Most of us (or parenting would have been a doomed enterprise) shift from a self-centered identity to one that's stretched out to envelop your kids. It's probably easier in a less individualistic culture. As a lot of people point out, there's a part of us that seeks fun and novelty, but there's only so much out new there and the returns diminish rapidly. Kids are novelty churning machines, both good and bad. You are not reliving the same day. They change (very fast) and you change. And ultimately, parenting helps me realize that we are here for a tiny, tiny flicker of time, we are not privileged in our uniqueness, and identity that's all about us is oversold. I do want to ask much older people if parenting helps them come to term with mortality and meaning towards the end of it all, but that's a tough one to bring up and ask.