Having Kids

As I’m getting older, I’m becoming more fond and protective of children. I never understood it growing up. But now I’m interested in what it’s like to have kids. I wonder what perspectives I’ll gain? I wonder how my relationships will change? I wonder how my values will evolve?

Paul Graham relfects on how his life changed after having children:

What changed, of course, is that I had kids. Something I dreaded turned out to be wonderful.

Partly, and I won’t deny it, this is because of serious chemical changes that happened almost instantly when our first child was born. It was like someone flipped a switch. I suddenly felt protective not just toward our child, but toward all children. As I was driving my wife and new son home from the hospital, I approached a crosswalk full of pedestrians, and I found myself thinking “I have to be really careful of all these people. Every one of them is someone’s child!”

And as much work raising a kid is, what an incredible experience it must be.

I had plenty of happy times before I had kids. But if I count up happy moments, not just potential happiness but actual happy moments, there are more after kids than before. Now I practically have it on tap, almost any bedtime.