Becoming a Parent

When I was talking to the family I interviewed, I focused on the decisions they made around becoming parents. Like mentioned in class, I found that it was easy to talk about the concrete "negative" changes that occurred, but much more difficult to give concrete examples of the postives. At the same time, when I asked them if they would make the same decision again, they pointed out that they would love to have more children, but feel like they waited too long to have the first. They both agreed that having a daughter was the best thing for them.

We talked a lot in class about how the transition to parenthood can be potentially overwhelming, and almost everything changes when a child is brought into the picture. Through talking with the family I begin thinking that this is true no matter what part of life you are in. The family I talked to felt that they were very settled when they decided to have a daughter, and that it would have been a lot more difficult if they were still young and wanting to go out every night. Still, they faced the same shifts in focus from themselves to their child that all new parents go through.