Parenting is one of the most fulfilling and rewarding experiences in life. However, this is not true to one dad. One father shares his struggle with challenges of parenting. When asked if parenting is rewarding, the father of two kids replied, 'I honestly can't say for sure.'
"If you do want kids, then I think it's critical to understand that having them might not be rewarding," the dad told Robin Hopkins.
Robin Hopkins asked her newly wedded friend about his plans on having children. Her friend hesitantly answered back, saying I know, I know, I must have kids because children are rewarding. However it is not what he meant of parenting, in fact, it's the opposite.
In the post titled "Parenting Is Not Rewarding" by Robin Hopkins, a dad, who has kids - one 5-year-old and another 7-year-old, said his children push his buttons on a minute-by-minute basis and was very tired to discuss anybody into parenting. For this dad, having children is not rewarding. "Not in the sense that I think of rewarding, anyway," Dad revealed to Hopkins.
For this dad of two kids, parenting is rewarding if parents remain committed and work hard even in unfavorable conditions, at some point, they are going to experience a relief or feeling of triumph, even if it is just because they have finished the task. But it is different in his case.
The weight of parenting leaves him the feeling as if he is doing it always wrong. Every night he was tortured by thoughts that he just formed a daughter who will not stand up for herself will be effortlessly influenced by peer pressure. Worst is his son is almost unbreakable with the technique of 1, 2, 3 and not yelling. He wondered if his son will result in a wild person who has total disregard for authority and rules or if someday he'll rule the whole world.
All that he could say about parenting is "it has pushed me beyond anything I thought I was capable of." Parenting has expanded the capacity of this dad for love, compassion, hope, fear, joy, anger, need for control and empathy, the Scary Mommy has learned. In the end, the dad can't tell for sure if parenting is rewarding as he does not know how his everything will come to an end.
