When I agreed to have kids, I knew my life would change in unpredictable ways. I knew I would learn things. And I was correct.

First off, I didnt expect to get so much pleasure from being a parent. I am not one of this "kid guys" who cant think of anything more fun than a room full of 5-year olds. In fact, I dont even like children very much but just thinking about my daughter makes me smile, makes me feel good. I certainly dont love every minute of it but it is a source of satisfaction that I never had before and did not know existed. It is both simple and powerful in the way biological things usually are.

I always thought I would have a kid, there was just never a time I thought it would be now. And then it happened and I found I had a lot of feelings I wasnt expecting. It turns out that thinking about being a parent, thinking about having a child is totally different from actually having one. I thought it would be cool to be a father but I didnt realize it would feel great to be a father.

It is this aspect of parenthood that does not translate to couples who are deciding whether to have kids. It is an idiom. Before you do it, you just dont know and you cant understand. After you do it, it just makes sense in ways you cannot explain or argue. It opens a part of you that you didnt know you had.

Which isn't to say that everyone should have children. The people with the most kids are often the ones least qualified to be good parental units. But Idiocracy was correct in pointing out that the best and brightest often rationalize not having children because the theoretical sacrifice of children seems greater than the reward. A mistake of over-thinking and under-experiencing.

The second thing I didnt expect was understanding my own parents more. Being a parent is just different from being a child. I might even argue that you never stop being a child until you have one. Completing the circle has given me a lot more compassion and understanding of my own parents. I expect that to only strengthen as time goes on and my own children turn into uncontrollable monsters that hate me for being unfair.

I cant wait.