The answer… because we’re addicted to it.
Here’s a great article from Slate with the premise that humans get such a physiological jolt of pleasure from the occasional hug, kiss or snuggle that it makes up for all the blood, sweat and tears that comes from raising children.
To put it another way – if it was so hard – we’d all be one children families. Here’s a passage from the piece:
“Parenting is a grind, and most parents are stressed out much more than they are happy. But when parents think about parenting, they don’t remember the background stress. They remember the cuddle and the kiss. Parenting is a series of intensely high highs, followed by long periods of frustration and stress, during which you go to great lengths to find your way back to that sofa and that kiss.
We have a name for people who pursue rare moments of bliss at the expense of their wallets and their social and professional relationships: addicts.
Children regularly give parents the kind of highs that only narcotics can rival. The unpredictability of those moments of bliss is an important factor in their addictiveness.”
Intrigued? Read on:
Filed under: Behavior, Children, Parenting | Tagged: addicition, child raising, Children, Parenting, Slate | 2 Comments »
– and from the four or so minutes I caught in the car – it’s an extremely helpful guide for navigating what are for some parents very tumultuous waters and uncovers the drivers for many infuriating aspects of teen’s behaviors. Apparently it’s not just about bad attitudes, being spoiled or disrespectful or carelessness or other commonly thought of drivers but simply an under-developed prefontal cortex.
…that is based on research by psychologists, neuro-imaging scientists, demographers, sociologists, and others that all independently come to the same conclusions. It definitely turns a lot of conventional wisdom upside down and “pops” many beliefs on what works and what doesn’t when it concerns raising children.
Pop Papa 