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[quote=Anonymous]1) How all-consuming children are. Their needs are absolute and trump everything else.

2) How much you lose your autonomy. I mean, yes, duh. 
But you can't really grasp, until you have kids, that basically you will not be able to take a shower without making sure someone else is on duty for the first few years... that you will not be able to just run out to the supermarket or for a quick drink with a friend without negotiating with our spouse or getting a sitter or deciding if it's worth waking a sleeping child for, like... ten whole years. You can't decide to just up and move to your favorite city or take a long vacation or go white water rafting... suddenly your whole life, your every waking moment, is hostage to the child's needs.

3) How much it will strain your marriage. Suddenly you and your spouse are competing for free time/time to work/time to exercise/time for a social life/time to sleep. And small inequities in household chores and child care become so magnified.

4) On the plus side... how much laughter and joy they bring. I have been a single mother for much of my two children's lives (see #3: strain on marriage) and although it has been really f*ing hard, my children are my favorite people in the world, and I would not have traded being their mother for anything in the world. They will be off to college soon and I already miss them.
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