@fudge Yes, 100%. My son is only 5 and things have been (and continue to be) challenging at times, but I would do it again. In general, I found having an infant to be extremely difficult (colic, didn't sleep well at all until 18 months). Additionally, the pandemic has made toddlerhood kind of nuts and frustrating at times; he's
spirited for sure. We have limited family support; although one set of grandparents is solid. I have found very few parts of parenthood easy, but the good outweighs the bad.
That being said, my wife and I had him when were were ~30 and decently established in our careers and marriage, so we can provide our son with the necessities while also being secure enough financially to not add that stressor. Our relationship has had its challenges related to parenthood, but we communicate well enough that we're able to find out way through them.
It helps that we knew we would be one and done very early on, having discussed it before he was even born. I think this allowed us to more quickly recover
ourselves; for example my wife has re-established her fitness routines and I can focus more on hobbies and solo outdoor adventures to recharge. Our son is at an age where he can be bribed into just about anything with a treat (not my proudest parenting tactic, but it works). He's also developing some interests that we can start to share (e.g. rock climbing). I have a real hard time with pretend play (I try), but I started coaching kids sports and I'm really enjoying spending time with him that way.
Currently, I'm finding the most difficult part to be supporting him emotionally as he matures a bit. These on/off pandemic lockdowns without siblings or even cousins is starting to leave a mark; things would be a lot easier if he had more friends around, but I think that will come in time.
