Yes and no, but mostly no.<p>Yes, regrets: I don’t sleep properly because of them, my self-care has gone down the tubes, and they brought out a temper in me that I never knew that I had (probably a side-effect of the sleep deprivation). Life is generally much harder.<p>No regrets: I love them dearly…I guess everybody says that. If you’ve ever had that “struck by lightning” falling-in-love, it was like that for me for each of my kids. It’s a deep, lizard-brain bond and I know I will love them with my whole heart until my dying breath. Perhaps more useful to hear, though, if you don’t have kids already: it has permanently changed who I am, in every way. I really much prefer the person that I am now than who I was before having kids.<p>They say you shouldn’t have kids for the following reason, but dammed if I can figure out why: children have given my life purpose.<p>That purpose infected me and begat many other purposes; I changed careers, I took up new hobbies, I developed skills I previously had no interest in, all of which have contributed to a much richer and more meaningful life, albeit more difficult as well.<p>It is also often said that kids are very expensive (and they really are, in both time and money). However, at least for me, many of the life choices that have made me significantly more financially secure, I never would have made if I hadn’t had kids. And although I have far less time, my time now feels valuable to me. Psychologically, I feel much better grounded and happier in general. My kids have made me richer in <i>every</i> respect, including the counter-intuitive ways.<p>Sometimes I joke with my wife that the above sentiments are Stockholm syndrome. Maybe so, but that doesn’t make the sentiment any less real, even if it is born out of a fundamental irrationality. Keep that in mind while reading folks who say they have no regrets: their past selves might have regretted it, but now that they are living it, they _really don’t have regrets_.