tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281443754502891373.post2128114353191125258..comments2023-09-16T09:09:18.691-04:00Comments on Kittywampus - now at kittywampus.wordpress.com: Reason, Unreason, and ReproductionSungoldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02153155221248240952noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281443754502891373.post-64500227197899645402008-03-02T22:11:00.000-05:002008-03-02T22:11:00.000-05:00Now, figleaf, you're hardly the only "old" parent ...Now, figleaf, you're hardly the only "old" parent here. One of the things I like about living where I do is that half of the parents at the elementary school are roughly my age, forties and beyond. The other half are young enough that I could be a grandma, but I try not to do that math.<BR/><BR/>I think Yglesias is right. Having very young children was tough for me, but it's getting easier. I'm prepared to duck and cover once they hit adolescence. But no less an authority than my own mother says it's *wonderful* to have grown children - and none of us gave her much grief when we were younger, so it's not just that she's relieved to have us out of her house. <BR/><BR/>If that's true, though, then people like you and I massively miscalculated, because the ratio of tough years : easy years is not in our favor. :-)<BR/><BR/>Glad you like the topic. As always, you've made me think. Thanks!Sungoldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02153155221248240952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281443754502891373.post-27421916792578409642008-03-02T13:47:00.000-05:002008-03-02T13:47:00.000-05:00Matthew Yglesias made a good generational point (g...Matthew Yglesias made a good generational point (gee, why would that interest me?) that whereas *having and raising* children might make one less happy than one might otherwise be, over the *long run* the satisfaction of having, especially, *grown* children is quite high. Given the intensity of loneliness often reported in old age, the lifetime cost/benefit of having is probably not properly measured.<BR/><BR/>That's *still* not to say one should or must have children, nor is it to say the childless are assured of loneliness not, obviously, that having children insures against it. Just that culture-of-youth bias probably influences most considerations.<BR/><BR/>Cool, cool, topic, Sungold.figleafhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01440982008394316977noreply@blogger.com