Research suggests many US parents will lie when saying kids made them happier

I do think people have children for the wrong reasons, most of them selfish. Honestly I want kids so I have someone to play legos with, or whatever they want to do.

Basic armchair psychology will tell you, nothing can make you happy. Your happiness is your own responsibility.

Not all parents may understand that having children may mean drastic changes to lifestyle, and may not have been prepared for the ~27 years of stress that having children bring on.

Oddly enough, having kids gives me a purpose in Society, that otherwise being a 36 year old man would not have. Too old to join the military, too young for end-of-life services, too set in my buying habits for marketing to care at all about me.

As the wise Stringer Bell once said, you're like a 40 degree day.

But being a dad, society is all about that: my lack of physique is called "dadbod" and women can profess to fetishize about it, my asanine advice to my kids are subject of a comedy twitter account, my no-more-give a dame attitude for fashion sense is celebrated, and I even have a national holiday to celebrate being a Dad--which gives me a legit excuse to do what I want to do (which for most dads involves cooking food on a grill for their families)

There is definitely a pressure to lie and say everything about kids is great all of the time; that is clearly not the case.

I would say that "small" happiness is less due to the huge amount of work and stress. On the flip side "large" happiness (or fulfillment) is higher. Whether that makes sense is a very personal decision.

I'm also very early in the journey. I have no idea how it will turn out in 15 years. I am happy that I'll have someone to hand things down to. I'm also happy some of my genes will survive even if all other evidence I existed disappears.

> ..it makes you think.

It does, but to me it says a lot more about how hedonistic and consumer focused the middle+ classes of western society are than of some sort of inherent negative associated with having children.

As a father, I still cant believe how someone might be happier without children, or kids have not made him happier... it is a most fulfilling thing to have a relationship with ones own kid. I also do not personally know anyone who said kids didnt make him happier. I am from Europe, not USA, but it is unlikely people are that different there.