That does not match my experience. First, you might have more than one child, so it might take a while between the birth of the oldest one and the time the you

That does not match my experience. First, you might have more than one child, so it might take a while between the birth of the oldest one and the time the youngest one is 1.5 years old. Second, having a full-time job + commute + eating + running errands + actually spending time with your children + X is not only time consuming, it is also very tiring. Of course it depends on how old you are when you become a parent - and only a few years can make a big difference - but I can tell you, after a full day, you're toast when the kids are in bed. I'm regularly getting up very early so I can be done with my day job early in order to maximize the time I get to spend with my children. But that means that in the hours I have "off", I wouldn't be capable of working on, say, a hobby video game the way I used to be able to when I was in my 20s or even 30s and single.