Lately people who don’t want to have kids are speaking louder and louder on social media. They give arguments why they have decided that they wouldn't want a child and are less afraid to admit that they just simply don’t like them. Also, parents feel more free to share their struggles and have stopped pretend that everything is easy and they love their kids every single second.
Reading through such stories and thoughts, future parents might get scared that they will ruin their lives and it’s not worth having children. Writer Rose Stokes asked for an antidote for all the negative views on having children and wanted parents to share what they love about their lives with kids. Twitter users were honest and revealed the good parts that brighten their day and assured the future mom that it’s not all bad.
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A future mom was a little bit worried about parents online complaining how hard it is to raise children so she asked them to share the good bits
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Rose Stokes is a freelance writer writing for The Metro, The Guardian and many more, covering all sorts of topics ranging from women’s rights to politics, economics and finance. She is actively sharing her thoughts about the world on Twitter and Instagram as well as some personal events.
Rose is expecting a new family member and the discourse about parenthood online gave her a little bit of a worry. So she asked parents on Twitter to share the best bits of taking care of a new life and people quickly came to tell Rose that while parenthood isn’t easy, it is still very rewarding and the love she will feel for her baby will make her forget the fatigue and the troubles she endures.
So many parents joined the thread and helped Rose feel calmer as they had many reasons why they love their children and the relationship between them
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The pressure to have kids has made childless people voice their opinion and let out their frustrations about being asked all the time when they will become parents. And those who have children have weak moments when they just want to vent. So the internet is full of negative experiences.
Bored Panda reached out to Rose and asked what her own personal worries were and she told us: "That I won't be able to cope with the momentous changes that it involves, especially the lack of sleep, and that I will struggle mentally."
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The majority of people mentioned that the immense love they feel makes them forget all the struggles and troubles
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Like every part of a human’s life, having children has its up and downs and there are definitely positive things in parenthood, as Twitter users proved. The majority of the comments confirmed that a parent’s heart is filled with infinite love and just watching their children makes them feel like the frustrating parts are worth it.
Twitter user Lucy Huber summed up the phenomena quite well. She explained that people highlight the bad parts because they are easy to define and talking about the good parts is a lot more difficult because they are so hard to put in words.
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Others pointed out how funny kids can be, bringing so much joy to their lives
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As this thread was created by Rose to make her feel better about having a child, we wondered if she felt relief after reading through the comments. The woman expressed her feelings: “Definitely! I think it's all about balance, we of course need to be aware of risks and for the challenges not to be sugarcoated, but it's also important we don't tip too far into scaremongering. Having heard so many downsides I was really struggling to picture being happy in my future but the overwhelmingly positive responses really helped to level me back out.”
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Rose is very excited to be a mother and the thing that she is most looking forward to is simply meeting her child. She told us, “I spend so much time wondering about who they are and what they'll be like, it's exciting to know this new person is coming and we get to discover who they are and what they like all together. I can't wait!”
Some parents pointed out how they are given a chance to see life through new eyes again and discover things in a new light
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Apart from the loving relationship that people create with their children, people feel like they are genuinely funny and they find it fascinating that they can observe a human being grow up and have their own sense of humor, personality, interests and feelings.
Quite a few people shared how they feel like children gave them a new perspective on life as they see the world for the first time and experience things they never felt before reporting all of it to their parents and showing a side of things they wouldn’t have thought about.
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There were parents who shared specific stories or things their children do that just makes them feel happy
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One of the tweets that Rose liked the most was in which a mother shared “her mental illness had prepared her well for motherhood. Actually just seeing how much love people hold for their children was really heartening.”
Some people also shared some specific examples of what their kids do that make their day. Like saying something unexpected or doing something funny.
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Not only did Rose find this thread calming and interesting, but other people who still don’t have children or who were tired of the negative discourse concerning parenthood appreciated moms and dads sharing the good parts because seeing them written makes them more real to those who maybe are having a hard time.
It seems that not only Rose needed this thread as other people were glad to know parenthood is not all just being tired all the time but it is actually very rewarding
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We would like to know how you feel about this thread. Do you feel like parents should talk more about both sides of raising a child as they focus on the negative aspects too much? Or do you think that the good parts should be common knowledge and parents should continue sharing the struggles as to prepare future parents for what’s coming for them? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!