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Home » Raising Kids » The Top 10 Honest, BEST and WORST Things About Having Kids

05/26/2017 12 Comments

The Top 10 Honest, BEST and WORST Things About Having Kids

Yep. I said it. There are some “worst” things about having kids. Ugh. Do you think poorly of me now? Please don’t. I am just saying what most of you all are thinking.

Listen…I love my children more than anything in this whole world and they are undoubtedly the best thing that has ever happened to me. Still, there are definitely things about being a parent that aren’t awesome.

This top ten list may serve as confirmation to you that you are not alone in having conflicting feelings towards parenthood. For those of you that don’t have kids yet, it may serve as birth control. You know what though? The list will also serve as a reminder to those of you who do have kids of what an absolute life-altering blessing children can be.

I hope that you are able to relate, and I most definitely hope that you enjoy the list…so here it is:

Top 10 Best and Worst Things About Having Children

Best

1. By far the best thing about having children is the unconditional love they give you. It doesn’t matter if you just got fired from your job, stepped in dog poop or haven’t showered in two days — your child loves you with every ounce of their being, every waking moment. To have someone in your life, whose affection and love for you is unwavering, non-judgmental and constant, is the best thing anyone could ask for.

2. Having children enables you to act like a kid, too, (sometimes) and not be considered crazy by the judging public. Okay, well..they still may think you are an oddball, but parenthood truly does allow for parents to jump in puddles, make silly noises and play in the rain. Having kids allows for you to be yourself with people who genuinely enjoy you, because it is all they have ever known and everything that they love.

3. Having children is like being on an adventure with tiny, fun teachers who are teaching you new things every day along the journey. From the early days of your babies mainly eating and sleeping to the constant changing they are doing from one day to the next as they grow, it an amazing odyssey of growth, learning, and developing new skills, not just for them, but for you as well.

4. Having children helps you realize how awesome you are. Literally, your children will, more often than not, especially if they are young, treat you like a celebrity or a superhero. Kids are so enamored and amazed by their parents from the moment they are born. It is pretty fascinating to have someone hold you up on a pedestal, day in and day out.

5. Having children means that you get to witness, at least once a day, the most beautiful thing this world has ever seen — a child’s smile. You also get the pleasure of knowing that you are the person driving that smile. How rewarding is that?

6. Having kids unveils to you, directly, what your personal strengths and weaknesses are. How amazing is it that our children serve as a mirror for us, to show us our behaviors and habits that may need to be changed. At the same time, they also reflect for us the beauty that we sometimes neglect to see within ourselves.

7. Having children forces you to establish and live your values. Ultimately, for most, you become less vain and less judgmental of yourself and others. Somehow, what car you drive, what clothes you wear and what other people think of you seem so much less important.

8. Having kids forces self-improvement. I do not know any parent that has not, in at least some small way, become a better version of themself by having a child. We owe so much to our children for being the catalyst to self-reformation.

9. Having children lets you take a tax credit! Come on, let’s be practical here guys! Per the IRS website, the Child Tax Credit is an important tax credit that may be worth as much as $1,000 per qualifying child, depending upon your income.

10. Making those precious children is oh so fun! So, yes, that is one of the best things about having kids — that to have them, you have to make them! Totally deserving of a top-ten spot.

Worst

1. They are expensive. Whether it is paying for their education, building a house big enough to contain all of them or securing life insurance so that they will be taken care of, if/when ever necessary, kids are so very costly. Some parents, of course not me, joke that the most expensive thing about children is the cost of all the alcohol you have to drink to put up with them.

2. They are exhausting. Like you think you know what it means to be exhausted before you have kids, and then you have kids, and you are like “WTF?” Yep. That’s parenthood. Jim Gaffigan stated it well when he stated, “I don’t know whats more exhausting about parenting: the getting up early, or acting like you know what you’re doing”.

3. They never leave you alone. You will rarely pee or shower by yourself again. Oh yea, and you were hoping to finish that book that love…that will never happen. Do you like hot coffee? Nope, no more. You will have to learn to like it lukewarm or better yet just order an iced coffee and be okay with it being watered down by the time you get to enjoy it.

4. It will be harder for you and your partner to have time alone to do anything. Unless you schedule and take regular date nights (which I completely advocate that you should), it will be incredibly hard to find time between work for you, work for your partner, kids activities, family time, cooking meals, laundry, etc to have any quality couple time.

5. You will inevitably lose your “sexy bod” and develop “mom bod” or “dad bod”. This is an actual thing and it will happen to you, at least for a short period of time.

6. Having kids forces you to be introspective. Although this is also considered one of the best things about having kids, there are plenty of people in this world who are super-content with their basic self, flaws and all, and don’t desire to engage in any type of deeper self-analysis. If you are one of those people and you have made the decision to have a child, heads up, because some severe self-observation and examination is going to be forced on you.

7. You will now have to put off some of your dreams. You wanted to take a trip to Europe? Nope, sorry…not happening with infants or toddlers. You want to go travel around and follow your favorite band on their U.S. tour? Don’t think attending concerts with your baby-bjorn on is the best idea. You want to quit your job and “find yourself”? Well, you are s**t out of luck.

8. You can’t “let loose” too often. Your new “crazy Friday night” is you and the hubby, one glass of wine, or two (if you are feeling frisky) and maybe you will stay up past 11:00pm to watch a movie on Netflix.

9. Your sleep will NEVER, ever be the same. From infant feedings, to being woken up in the middle of the night to clean a dirty diaper, to comforting your little one from bad dreams, to your child wetting your bed — you will rarely sleep a whole night through again. In all honesty, whenever I get the chance to sleep two hours straight, I feel like a million bucks. That is my new normal, as gone are the days of sleeping in and leisurely making my way out of the bed. So awesome, right?

10. Kids never stop talking. No really, they never stop talking and you are expected and supposed to always be an active, attentive and compassionate listener to every single word they say. Not to mention that it is hard to be a good listener when you are sleep-deprived, alcohol-deprived, private-time deprived, etc.

Well there you go. There is my top ten list of the best and ten worst things about being a parent. I can’t leave you though with a negative outlook on having kids though, as that is not my style.

As I stated earlier, I love my children more than anything in this whole world and they are undoubtedly the best thing that has ever happened to me. This is the life I have chosen, the life that I want and the life I 100% believe I was put on this Earth to live.

Each of us has to choose to live our life in the way that makes us happy. Maybe you are happy without kids and if that is the case, there is no judgment here. But, I will tell you this — if you make the decision to have children, it will be the greatest decision you will have ever made, as it was, and remains to be, for me.

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Filed Under: Raising Kids Tagged With: children, dad humo, fatherhood, inspirational parenting, mom humor, motherhood, mothering, parenthood, parenting, parenting humor, raising kids, top ten

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Rachel says

    05/26/2017 at 2:35 pm

    Bite your tongue! I refuse to have a mom bod!!!!

    But yeah, nailed it. 😉

    Reply
    • jthreenmeblog says

      05/26/2017 at 3:02 pm

      Thanks for the comment! I totally need you to inspire me to run more! Love ur site! Glad you enjoyed this!

      Reply
  2. evdayam says

    06/23/2017 at 1:33 pm

    Dude, seriously. Are we the same person? I swear I’m not copying you. Another blog post idea I have on my list!! Mom bloggers unite! These are good best/worst things that I’m sure most moms (me included) can relate to. I promise when I do this post, I will use my own words!! LOL!!! Thanks for being a relatable mom. And again BOOM with the blog posts, you’re killing it!

    Reply
    • jthreenmeblog says

      06/23/2017 at 2:44 pm

      Amanda! Maybe we are?!?! Haha. Thank you for being so relatable and for truly being so kind and supportive to a practical stranger! It is also to receive such support and constant comments on the blog and I am grateful!! Thanks again so much!

      Reply
  3. nicolle says

    06/23/2017 at 8:37 pm

    These are all so very true! The best things definitely make up for the worst things by far! My little one has changed our lives so much, and I couldn’t imagine it any other way!

    Reply
    • jthreenmeblog says

      06/23/2017 at 8:45 pm

      I am completly in agreement with you! This is the way my life was meant to be. They are my life! Thanks so much for commenting!

      Reply
  4. Kellyn says

    09/28/2017 at 9:27 am

    I love this. I think people need to get real about parenting. Sometimes we act like it’s all cupcakes and rainbows, but it’s not. There are days when I just want to be left alone.!!!!! But on the flip side there are days when I can’t get enough of those sweet cheeks, smiles and sarcastic comments.

    Reply
    • jthreeNMe says

      10/01/2017 at 7:38 pm

      I so appreciate the fact that you enjoyed this Kellyn! Thanks for taking the time to comment. 🙂

      Reply
  5. Lorraine Smyth says

    10/20/2017 at 7:15 am

    Great post and can relate. I myself do a parenting blog and currently writing one about all the good things about having her, been a bit of a tough one and my posts have showed that, so think I need to remind myself of how great it is despite the hard bits.

    Reply
    • jthreeNMe says

      10/23/2017 at 8:25 pm

      Hi Lorraine — Thanks so much for the kind comment about the post. I totally get the trying to remind myself how great it is during the hard times — believe me, I don’t always do a good job. It’s when I take the time to do some gratitude practice and introspection that I really appreciate how truly blessed I am. Thanks again for taking the time to read and comment.

      Reply
  6. Jess says

    10/20/2017 at 9:24 am

    My introspection turns into morbid obsessions, but I gotta tell you these kids’ love is worth every tormenting second.

    My friend the other day texted me to tell me how jealous he was that I had my own personal entourage to get into to cool places like children’s museums and chuck e cheeses. 😉

    Reply
    • jthreeNMe says

      10/23/2017 at 8:23 pm

      Bahahahaha! LOVE THIS, JESS! I totally feel you! 🙂

      Reply

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