75% of the time we spend with our kids in our lifetime will be spent by age 12
One of the things I have a hard time conveying to non-parents is that the most time-intensive parts of parenting don&#x27;t last forever.<p>I&#x27;ve talked to a lot of young people who say they don&#x27;t want kids because they think their personal lives will permanently halt the moment they have kids. I spend a lot of time trying to explain that:<p>1) I still spend a lot of time with friends and can do most of my personal hobbies&#x2F;activities on weekends. My wife and I are good at sharing the load. You don&#x27;t need 2 parents watching kids 100% of the time.<p>2) The sleepless nights and diaper changes are a mere blip on the scale of a lifetime with kids. You deal with it, then the kids grow up quicker than you think. Don&#x27;t let the idea of the first few months&#x2F;years define your entire decision for how you want to structure your family for the rest of your life.<p>3) You actually <i>like</i> hanging out with your own kids. I talk to a lot of people who are anchored to some negative experience they had 10 years ago babysitting for someone else&#x27;s kids, as if that was representative of parenting life. It&#x27;s not at all. At the end of the day, I actually rush to finish up my work so I can have more kid time. It&#x27;s fun.