>>6924>>How has your experience been so far?It's easier than I thought it would be. Mine aren't particularly easy (though thankfully not particularly hard) kids from what I understand. There are some moms who act like it's all rainbows and butterflies and there is no such thing as a bad moment. Other moms seem to feel like their kids are a burden, but I think those are women who are just complainers in general. My experience has been in the middle; not exclusively good times but an overwhelmingly strong net positive.
>>What do you appreciate or find rewarding in being a mother that was lost on the younger you?It's weird; my self concept hasn't quite yet changed to "being a mother." Like in my head I'm still the same woman I was at 20, adamantly against having kids. But I have two and my husband and I want at least one more. I think knowing that he wanted kids but wanted to be with me more than having kids, and telling me that he'd be with me no matter what, it showed me that having kids wasn't going to be a price I had to pay to society. It wasn't going to be something I "had to do." Once it felt like less of an obligation and I was confident and secure in myself as not "needing" to have kids to please anyone else, I slowly began to realize that I never didn't want kids, I wanted to not be told what I do or don't or will or won't want.
Not wanting kids was a form of rebellion, and once I was my own person, the need to rebel dissipated, and I was able to see the pros and cons in a very different light.
We're encouraged as women to ask ourselves why we do want certain things, but we're actually discouraged in my experience from thinking critically and deeply about why we don't want things.
