This week, there was an article in Newsweek that offered some scary food for thought. The article discussed a happiness barometer of parents vs. non parents. Many statistics were cited and several experts quoted. The most poignant, in my opinion, were the following:
“…In Daniel Gilbert’s 2006 book “Stumbling on Happiness,” the Harvard professor of psychology looks at several studies and concludes that marital satisfaction decreases dramatically after the birth of the first child and increases only when the last child has left home…author, Arthur C. Brooks, finds that parents are about 7 percentage points less likely to report being happy than the childless…The most recent comprehensive study on the emotional state of those with kids shows us that the term “bundle of joy” may not be the most accurate way to describe our offspring. “Parents experience lower levels of emotional well-being, less frequent positive emotions and more frequent negative emotions than their childless peers,” says Florida State University’s Robin Simon, a sociology professor who’s conducted several recent parenting studies…The National Marriage Project’s 2006 “State of Our Unions” report says that parents have significantly lower marital satisfaction than non parents…”
So ladies, what do you think? Honestly! If you listed the three things that make you happy, what would they be? Do your children really make you happy? I’m just curious!
