I’ll engage honestly with this for a sec.
Yes, parenting is hard work. I have kids myself. It’s not easy and can be rather thankless at times.
I think what people are downvoting/getting upset with you about is that there’s a lot of parents who take the above and say “you owe me XYZ. Do you know how much I sacrificed for you !?!” My family did this to me. It’s heartbreaking when they pull this card and you’re just trying to get them to…well just not be shitty towards you and your family.
You kinda opt-in to the thanklessness a bit. Which renders the “owing” argument moot.
Ciderpunk@lemmy.world 5 days ago
I think you’re conflating the concept of an opportunity cost with a sacrifice. There is a lot of joy in parenting, and not getting to hang out with friends because you have to take care of your child isn’t a sacrifice, it’s the cost of having a child. Not every single thing you give up is a sacrifice.
realitista@lemmus.org 5 days ago
Yes I suppose you could apply that to anything and say sacrifice doesn’t exist for anything. But since we are discussing it, I don’t think we are in the mindspace you are proposing.
Ciderpunk@lemmy.world 5 days ago
Nah, sacrifice in regards to your children is absolutely a mindset thing. You can cognitively restructure your thinking in this case.
If you look at your children and think “wow, I’m not getting anything out of this” I can promise you that your children feel this and will become very distant to you when they grow older. They know when you just think they’re a burden.
realitista@lemmus.org 5 days ago
This is true for any sort of sacrifice. Volunteering, saving people from burning buildings, etc.