I would go one step further and say that even if you enjoy babysitting, that doesn’t mean parenting is for you. I babysat a lot as a teenager, and I can say it did not properly prepare me for having children.
Babysitting is a lot more fun because you’re just there for a few hours and then you leave. Parenthood is far more demanding.
Parenting is basically a mixture of being a nanny, teacher, psychologist/social worker, and housekeeper all rolled into one. These are all things I’m especially bad at and would never take an actual job in.
In retrospect (though it is too late now!) having kids was the wrong choice for me.
As a teacher (and lone data point) I will say that I enjoy parenting much, much more than the “interacting with children” side of teaching. (And the other parts, but those are less pertinent.) Parts of this might be genetic interest but also taking care of two children is exponentially more delightful than taking care of lots of them.
(I also suspect that if followed a cohort of children, rather than remaining within the same grade range, I would enjoy interacting with them much more.)
I would go one step further and say that even if you enjoy babysitting, that doesn’t mean parenting is for you. I babysat a lot as a teenager, and I can say it did not properly prepare me for having children.
Babysitting is a lot more fun because you’re just there for a few hours and then you leave. Parenthood is far more demanding.
Parenting is basically a mixture of being a nanny, teacher, psychologist/social worker, and housekeeper all rolled into one. These are all things I’m especially bad at and would never take an actual job in.
In retrospect (though it is too late now!) having kids was the wrong choice for me.
As a teacher (and lone data point) I will say that I enjoy parenting much, much more than the “interacting with children” side of teaching. (And the other parts, but those are less pertinent.) Parts of this might be genetic interest but also taking care of two children is exponentially more delightful than taking care of lots of them.
(I also suspect that if followed a cohort of children, rather than remaining within the same grade range, I would enjoy interacting with them much more.)