{"id":3676,"date":"2011-10-26T18:06:46","date_gmt":"2011-10-26T17:06:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/79.170.44.80\/livingwithkids.co.uk\/?p=3676"},"modified":"2018-02-20T11:50:05","modified_gmt":"2018-02-20T11:50:05","slug":"motherhood-happiness-and-having-babies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/motherhood-happiness-and-having-babies\/","title":{"rendered":"Motherhood, Happiness And Having Babies"},"content":{"rendered":"Recently there has been a spate of articles in the newspapers and in magazines from mums saying, \u201cI was happier before I had a child.\u201d I don\u2019t know about you but they annoy me intensely for so many reasons.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.livingwithkids.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Mum-Blog.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-3677\" title=\"Mum-Blog\" src=\"http:\/\/www.livingwithkids.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Mum-Blog-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>The latest one in Grazia has a mum basically saying that motherhood is tough, hard and dull and now that she can\u2019t spontaneously go out with her partner or have a lie in, she realises she was happier before she had a baby. Okay I\u2019m being slightly glib about her piece but that\u2019s the gist. And to top it all off her argument seems to be that we\u2019re all being sucked into a lie that having kids will make us happy and it\u2019s not fair because it doesn\u2019t!\r\n\r\nI\u2019m sorry but where does it say having babies equals happiness or that we\u2019re entitled to be happy and satisfied all the time whatever we choose to do? Either this mum (or the other mums writing about this subject) thought motherhood was going to be easy, or they didn\u2019t talk to any other mums about the realities of parenting before getting pregnant.\r\n\r\nYes it\u2019s hard, tedious and at times infuriating but that\u2019s what it\u2019s like to have a person who is 100% dependent on you for everything. What\u2019s more foresight can tell you that this will in turn change your lifestyle from that of a carefree person, to a someone who has a never ending list of chores to do.\r\n\r\nTo think parenting isn\u2019t going to be like this or expect it to make your life continuously happy is madness. Parenthood has the power to make you feel lots of things, including insanely happy and totally insane. It isn\u2019t supposed to be about finding personal fulfilment. So for me reading about these women griping, and whining about being happier pre-baby is just exasperating.\r\n\r\nBut what do you think? Am I being too hard on them? Is there a conspiracy trapping us into an idea that motherhood is the road to happiness? Let me know your thoughts.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Recently there has been a spate of articles in the newspapers and in magazines from mums saying, \u201cI was happier before I had a child.\u201d I don\u2019t know about you but they annoy me intensely for so many reasons. 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