Do children make you have a happier life?

[Sewingsusan]

just that really. Love mine to bits and they’ve given me great sense of happiness and contentment.
what do others think?

No. The whole thing was hugely stressful and I constantly worry I've fucked them up somehow. I hate being responsible for the way 2 people turned out. It brought far more difficulties than happiness. I lost myself completely along the way too.

I would say yes, having children has made me happier. Mine are 12 and 16 and both lovely boys who give me a sense of perspective about the world.

Cannot imagine life without them

Mine are 11, 13, 21.

I love them and they bring me happiness about 10% of the time. The other 90% is bloody hard work.

One of them has a neurological condition that makes life very difficult though.

100%!

Same for me, @mynameiscalypso .

If having children is something you want, then yes, they’ll make you happy. My two are somewhat moody teenagers atm but I’m so glad I had them, being child free wasn’t the right path for me.

For others, being child free is the right decision, we’re all different.

Agree 100%
My kids are the greatest gift I've been given and are the best part of my life. Mine are 17 and 19 and I love watching them grow.

Mine are 4 and 3 and these past few years have been the hardest of my life. I'm pretty exhausted, but on balance I think I am happier and more content. I love the snuggles, and when they tell me they love me, and they do make me laugh a lot. And when I go to collect them from nursery and I see their little faces beaming at me it just feels like the sun has suddenly come out.

BUT I would do anything for a lie in, a spontaneous night out with my husband, and I have additional worries now about schooling and safety, that I wouldn't have had if I didn't have children.

Yes the you, what about YOU

that is what the op was asking

On balance, yes. But I dream of lie ins and spontaneity.

My baby is teething and ill which doesn't make me happy at all

She wasn’t asking for what “They say” (whoever “they” are)

Yes absolutely, my children are the best people I’ve ever met. I love being their parent and every sacrifice has been repaid a thousand times over with the pure joy they bring me.

I completely understand that this wouldn’t be the case for everyone though so I never push having kids as an option. I am careful to be balanced in the way I talk about parenting to friends who haven’t yet had kids though. I hear a lot of negativity from other parents and rarely hear them mention the huge positives.

Mine are 4 and 9. I can't say that they make me happier, I was very content pre kids tbh and the best years of my life so far were child free in my 20's. But they certainly don't make me unhappy, my life is just different now. If I had family support life would be easier, but we don't. I find the juggle of life stressful, but equally I love the world they having kids has opened me up to.

It’s going to depend a lot on the person isn’t it? Mine does, but I went to a lot of effort to conceive him and wouldn’t have bothered if I hadn’t been pretty convinced I’d enjoy it. Plenty must end up accidentally pregnant and hate it, or their circumstances change.

No they don’t but admitting to it is usually frowned upon

As my mum says: you're only as happy as your least happy child.

Higher highs and lower lows. My DCs bring me a pure joy and delight that I’ve rarely experienced before - and they do so very frequently. At the same time, the sense of stress, complexity, frustration, and vulnerability can be a lot to handle. And PND is awful. On balance, I would say that my DCs have made my life considerably better, despite it being considerably harder. One of life’s great mysteries!

100% no doubt about it

There isn't really a universal answer to this, as the topic of having children is so personal.

I never wanted children, so I don't have any, which I'm very happy about. Mostly I'm just grateful to live in a time and a place where I have that choice, many other women are not so lucky.
Whereas my sister has two children, and despite being in the throws of teenage tantrums at the moment, I'd say she is very happy with her choice too.

My life isn't better or worse than hers, just different. She wouldn't want my life, and I wouldn't want hers.

No. But that is also due to other catastrophic changes in my life that having children and no support is making it impossible to move myself out of.

In another life, and if their dad had not morphed into an abusive arsehole after having kids, I perhaps could have been happy. Though I’m not sure that would have been happier, a different happy perhaps.

yes they absolutely do make me beyond happy, but I'm also beyond tired, beyond worried, beyond stressed about pretty much everything (I have 3 year old twins so it's pretty full on)

So yes they make me happy, but there is a tonne of other things that make life harder as well.

Same here. Mine are younger but one is such complex SEN I'm not sure how he's ever going to manage independently and I worry about that every single day. That said, when he's happy, I'm ecstatic!

Yes.
My ds brings me joy that I never knew existed before him. The rest of my life is falling to pieces it seems, but I feel so happy when I'm just at home playing with him.

Yes but I will probably be happier when they've grown up as when you are in it you are tired and stressed.

Yes 100% I have 9 children ranging from a baby to early twenties.

My DC are grown up now and they make me very happy and proud. I’ve enjoyed the journey to get here, and now they are adults it feels like I’m child free again but with two wonderful people in my life as well.