Anyone who tells you:
-- doesn't really know what he/she is talking about.
Kids are such fun.
I would gladly trade 10 candlelit dinners or nights at a disco/pub/concert or a party for an evening with my daughters (btw, it is not that you cannot pub and raise kids).
More often than not, they are a laugh a minute. Besides, they have such interesting angles and thoughts on life.
Their companionship -- a little warm hand slipping into yours when you need it most and their unconditional love -- is an addiction.
Kids mean instant companionship.
Wherever you want to go -- be it a bookshop, a restaurant, a movie or on a trip -- they are game.
The added benefit -- one that is very hard to put into words -- is the extra dimension a marriage/relationship gets when children come along.
Children are often the future of a relationship.
The tales you exchange, the purpose of your daily life, the joy, the happiness, the irritations -- in fact the whole flow of a marriage/relationship -- is determined by your kids.
Children add maturity to your character.
Couples/adults whose only concern was having a good time suddenly know what it means to really love and care for someone, to be less selfish and irresponsible. Parents grow because of their kids.
I believe children also expand your outlook on life. I was the I-love-dogs type. Till I had kids, my heart went out to every miserable puppy or sorrowful kitten on the road -- I ended up adopting quite a few -- and I loved working with animals. But now that I have two daughters of my own, I cannot pass a dejected child without wishing I could take him or her home too, along with the homeless cats, dogs, crows and pigeons.
Concern for children brings a larger concern for the problems of the world, environment and peace and moves you far away from the realm of I, me and myself.
Nothing, I feel, changes your life more than bringing a few children into the world -- not puberty, not love, not marriage.
Your life will change beyond recognition once you are a parent. It will get so much busier, tiring, anxious and frazzled. But it will also get so much fuller.
The toughest and most challenging assignment of one's lifetime is to bring up a youngster to be an exceptional adult.
My first child slowly moved out of the waddly-goofy-diaper stage to the funny-comment-a-minute toddler stage to the precocious preschooler one to the dangerous nearly teenager stage she is at now.
I mourned the passing of each 'era' and wondered how I would not miss that particular avatar of my child.
Which brings one squarely up against the decision of having a second child.
Having your second child is a much, much larger decision than having your first. And nearly as large as the decision, of course, of having the third or the fourth.
I firmly believe if you have had the first, the second is a must. It's a bit like Tweedledee and Tweedledum. I know of so many couples who have one child and don't want a second.
The reasons cited can be anything from the mother's discomfort during the first pregnancy to financial incapacity to shortage of time to many, many others.
Listed here, are some of my most convincing reasons on why you should have more than one child:
Do you have parenting experiences/tips you'd like to share with us?
Illustration: Uttam Ghosh