3 things young adults deeply misunderstand about having kids

Let me tell you about the dumbest thing anyone has ever said to me on the internet.

This was deep into one of the COVID-19 lockdowns when Twitter was a warzone between right-wing do-nothings and COVID-zero lunatics.

Those of us trying to find a middle ground where we could fight the pandemic but not destroy our and our kids’ lives in the process had no home there.

To say working parents were “worn down” during that era doesn’t even come close to capturing just how destroyed we all were.

COVID broke us.

The pressure of trying to maintain careers and keep up with work demands while taking care of and educating young, needy kids at home due to school closures (and the guilt of feeling like we were doing poorly at both while trying to juggle) was crushing.

At my lowest point, I took to Twitter to vent about one of the nonsense measures that had taken away a low-risk activity from our struggling kids and this childless, late-20s fellow decided to chime in with his 2 cents.

I’m paraphrasing, but it went something like this: “I don’t know what the big deal is, I was a kid once and I would have just occupied myself.”

I kid you not, this comment was the trigger that finally pushed me to quit Twitter for good.

In the depths of COVID depression, as we agonized about how our kids had their educations, sports…