A few thoughts from Sheila Wray Gregoire:
And so I think there’s something else going on. If you’re a young adult surveying the parental scene, you see harried parents chronically short on cash because hockey costs so much this year. You see them tying themselves in knots because their toddler won’t sleep through the night, their seven-year-old can’t read, or their teenager has gotten into the wrong crowd. It looks like a recipe for an ulcer.
The one thing you can’t see is what’s going on inside those parents. […]
At one point parenthood was one of the experiences that we all had in common.
We had all gone through labour in some form or another, or stayed up all night with a child with croup, or kissed a boo-boo. Even if language or religion or culture or class separated us, we were all parents. When we lose these shared experiences we lose a shared culture. Parenting is hard work, and it requires more sacrifice today, perhaps, than it did a century ago. But it is still worth it. I know some will always choose to remain childless, and that’s okay. But I hope our country as a whole does not turn its back on parenthood. Babies are our future, and they really are irreplaceable.
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Our general present day culture says that a worthwhile life can be had by having a good plan – following one’s passion, setting goals and working at them, by etc, etc.. Parenting therefore can never be ‘worth it’ because parenting never goes as planned – there are tons of bumps along that road. Funny thing is however; nothing in life , parenting or non-parenting, really goes as planned. This ‘goes as planned’ mantra is beyond fiction and into mythology.
The real point is; ‘Where do we get this idea that one should ASSESS life and life issues?’. Seems to be a characteristic of a materialistic, quasi hedonistic, worldview. Imagine someone looking at you and saying; ‘I don’t know if you are worth it’. Very different world from; ‘I love you’.