I had read so many casual internet comments about infants being horrible and how unbelievably difficult it was that by the time I actually had kids, it seemed almost mild by comparison.

It's not an easy thing, but some of the histrionic claims about child raising on the internet are really out there. It's no wonder kids are horrified by the thought.

▲

acuozzo 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> It's not an easy thing, but some of the histrionic claims about child raising on the internet are really out there.

Have you considered that objectively difficult infants/toddlers/children exist? Children with O.D.D., for instance, show symptoms early, but diagnosis usually doesn't come until much later.

Perhaps the comments you came across online were from the parents of those kids.

-A parent of a very challenging child with Level II Autism

	▲	happysadpanda2 an hour ago \| parent [-]
		I think that might be the thing. Parents whose children are more challenging might more often "be at wits end" and turn to online communities for guidance, help, or other insights, whereas parents whose children are not as challenging just breezes through, and thus do not end up as a data point online on how difficult parenthood is. Also, even though I don't know you, I am certain that you are a good parent, and that you are doing your very best, and that your child is lucky to have you as their parent. :) Stay strong.

▲

dibujante 6 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I’m on hour five of putting this child to bed.

▲

arjie 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

One similar funny experience I had was that I've never had any trouble with poop or diapers, but a family member said "Just wait till she starts eating solids!" and then she started eating solids and there was no step function in experience. Changing her was still the same.

	▲	green7ea an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I had a similar experience to your family member. I have a 2 year old and when she started eating solids, the smell got to me much more than before. Still not too hard but much harder in my case ;-).
	▲	hattmall 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		My kids were considerably larger and smellier when they started eating solids, but still nothing crazy. Changing diapers is basically nothing, but having all the stuff that they need related to diapers and just being at the age when they are in diapers is mildly challenging if you travel a lot.

▲

verisimi an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> It's not an easy thing, but some of the histrionic claims about child raising on the internet are really out there. It's no wonder kids are horrified by the thought.

Could 'the horrors of parenting' be something that is promoted to younger people, to discourage then from having children? A sort of governance marketing to help address the perceived issue that there are simply too many people?

▲

rustystump an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

People have different personalities and so do infants. Parents can find one child easier than another and this changes from person to person.

How strong the family and well situated the family is also likely plays a factor.