Be absolutely honest. If you could do it all again, would you have had kids ?

[Pisssssedofff]

I'll answer later.

Definitely. However I wish I could go back and tell myself not to worry so much and to take things more slowly!

Yes.

Yes but I'd have waited a bit longer and had some more time just me and dh first

To answer this question now then yes I would but a few years ago then the answer would be probably not.
Also DD is 11 now and quite a few of her friends are only children so I can see how their mums who I'm friends with have suddenly got all this freedom but I've still got ds7 so to be honest I've given that a bit of thought!!

Really not sure
Am so depressed and stressed and trying not to top myself every single day I'm not sure at the moment it was worth feeling like this or that im s good enough mother for them .

Yes. Obviously have the typical parenting experience of "omfg why is this so hard today, can you just NOT" etc etc but DD has enriched my life beyond belief.

Today I am not sure, but then I'm having a bad week - DD is 2 and fights over everything, I'm pregnant and the hormones don't seem to agree with me (didn't last time either), I'm exhausted, utterly skint and cripplingly lonely. But then I was so broody it was painful and I do love DD to the ends of the earth so in reality it's probably just a bad week and I probably would do it again really.

Probably not

Yes 1000x but I'd have started earlier. DH had secondary infertility and I had miscarriages and we always wanted 4 which never happended but I do have 2 wonderful DDs for which I'm so grateful.

They're teen/ adult now and it's been amazing. It went so fast, though! I'd have tried to remember in the difficult bits that it really was just a phase.

With all the usual caveats of I love DS and wouldn't change him etc etc

No

Yes but ideally I would have him younger so that I would have more time and space to think about and hopefully conceive dc2. (Currently ttc at 40 and struggling. )

Yes definitely DDs 15 and 18 each age brings a new delight.

Yes, absolutely. But those early years were a struggle and I would have given you a less certain answer then.

No.

Yes, definitely.

Definitely would have wanted 'em, would have been a bit more careful picking a father though. It's wonderful now they're grown up and are starting to take care of me instead of the other way round!

Right now? My answer would be no. Not that I don't love my daughter absolutely I have really struggled to 'enjoy' my life fully since being a mum.

I think fantasies of how an alternative life would have panned out are common. I imagine some people who didn't have children perhaps think from time to time of the rosy cheeked perfectly behaved tots they would have had.

In general though I think it's natural to look back on your younger years with nostalgia and I would have liked longer to just enjoy being a newlywed to DH but it wasn't to be.

No, I don't regret them and I would have them again.

Yes, but I would of had them in my early 20s and only had a years gap between them. Would keep the number at 2.

I would have liked to have spent more time before having children building up work/career. And also thought more about how best to manage my return to work.

But my daughter is the love of my life and it is wonderful to see her moving out into the adult world. She is also very good company.

Without doubt, having children has been the greatest joy of my life. I'd do every second of every sleepless night again twice, thrice over. I'm a single parent and my almost grown children are everything I should have been, if I'd been parented better.

Yes, I couldn't be without him, but I almost wish I'd waited a few more years (I was 28 when I had him). I am finding my social life has completely dwindled and I'm struggling with it a bit. It was easy to go out with him when he was a baby. Less so now he's a toddler!

A million times yes, even though motherhood brings me more worry and stress than anything else ever has.
If I could turn back the clock knowing then what I know now, I'd have started earlier and possibly even have had more.

Yes, absolutely. But I also know I could have had a happy life without children, if for some reason I'd been unable to have them. Different, but fine.

Yes, but I'd do it differently. I'd have them much earlier, so in my early 20s, instead of my 30s and I wouldn't stress over the little things so much.