Happiness and Children

A Buddhist once said that children were a burden, a burden so heavy that it would have to preclude parents from becoming monks and nuns. There is actually research out there that supports this hypothesis. Children are a lot of work. Many couples are so stressed because of their children that their partnership falls apart a few years into parenthood.

So the question is, do children add or take away from our happiness?

I think the question can only be answered on an individual basis. I find that my children bring immense joy into my life. They are my practice of the Tao, my reality check for my Zen meditation, the disturbance of my tranquility, the challenge that makes me grow, the object of my love and compassion, a gift from the heavens, an invitation to feel one at once, an invitation to giggle at my infirmities, to be humble, and to realize, once again, that I am but a human.