Does having kids make adults miserable?

Children are a source of joy, reports Jennifer Senior in New York magazine, but they also making modern parents thoroughly unhappy

A recent article in New York magazine says that while couples love their kids, they don't like their lives very much.
(Image credit: Corbis)

A new battle has broken out in the parenting wars, after New York magazine published a provocative article arguing that parents tend to hate their own lifes, even though they love their children. Writer Jennifer Senior says study after study shows that having babies does not lead to the happiness many new parents expect, but to "frustration, tedium, anxiety, heartbreak" (though the long-term rewards eventually make the long-term sacrifices seem worth it). Does breeding really trigger unhappiness? (Watch Jennifer Senior take calls from parents on WNYC Radio)

Parenting is stressful, and stress equals unhappiness: There are plenty of reasons "parents are so unhappy," says Yolanda Sangweni in Essence. Kids can kill romance in any marriage, and Americans lack both the family support networks earlier generations enjoyed, and the government-subsidized programs you find in Europe. For working parents in the U.S., "the strain of shuttling between day cares and babysitters can cause insurmountable amount of stress and anxiety, financially and emotionally, which is draining."

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