Lunch with the family. Older niece is going to a Halloween party so younger niece (9) will be trick or treating on her own. She announced that she was planning on telling everyone her sister was ill and could she have an extra sweet for her too, and then eating them. I told her she had a great future as an internet scammer ahead of her.
I do sometimes think that if we lived in a better world and my life had worked out differently it would have been nice to have had children. Then I hear sentences like "No you _can't_ eat the butter pat, I've just wiped you!" and I think I probably have a lot less stress this way.
@afewbugs I'm convinced this is true for a significant percentage of parents. It's not a golden rule though.
My experience with our one three year old kid has not been totally free of stress. But I don't think having a kid really adds stress to my life that otherwise wouldn't have been there about something else.
@Pepijn I just feel like I love my nieces so much, and would presumably love my own kids even more, and I'm not sure if I could cope with the stress of loving something with the survival instincts of a newly released pheasant on a country road that much 😂
@Pepijn "Here, take this organism. It is the most remarkable being you will ever encounter and will astound and delight you in equal measure. You are responsible for its care and continued survival. Also it will attempt to run into the road, eat pigeon poo, do handstands on top of climbing frames and insert marbles into every one of its accessible orifices at every conceivable opportunity."