"I really do sometimes enjoy my son. But, having him has tied me to an abuser for the next 14.5 years. He still gets to abuse me. And sometimes I just need quiet time that I can't get. I can't move. I have a relationship that's long distance, and I want to move in with him.
I want to leave my state regardless. But since I have this kid - I can't. Coping? I'm ignoring the problem and hoping I don't come to resent my son." -Reddit user zuklei
"I thought my kids would save my life. You hear those stories where your kids "give you a reason to love." I love them wholeheartedly, and they are incredible.
But I still wake up every morning wishing I didn't wake up. No amount of therapy or medicine has ever changed my desire to no longer exist." -Reddit user dinahsaur523
"I'm a mother to a 9-year-old boy. And I have regretted having him since he was just weeks old. I really hoped that I would grow out of this as he got older. But I haven't.
I've just found new things to dread or worry about as a parent. The best way I deal with it is having a friend or two that I go to coffee with a couple of times a week. And spending a day or two at home alone while he's at school." -Reddit user Responsible-Draft268
"We adopted a four-year-old who turned out to have severe issues. While I don't regret rescuing her from what could have been a bad life, the first 20 years were rough, especially the first seven years.
Her overwhelming needs blew up my marriage and left my slightly older son saying, "I want my childhood back." She's a lovely 28-year-old, and I love her, but man, those years were rough." -Reddit user SSSS_car_go
"Because no one prepares you for those situations that are not perfect: special needs children, mentally ill children. We romanticize families way too much and downplay the difficulties and emotional pain that come with them. And no one talks about this before you have them— I was totally unprepared even though I was married and stable with a college degree.
Yeah, you might get great kids that do really well, and you might not. I did not have the temperament to be a good parent and should have been encouraged to explore that before I had them." -Reddit user (deleted)
"One friend of mine regrets having a child because she lost her entire life from it. No more college, always broke, stuck with the father who she hates more often than not. She says she should have waited.
She should have had her kid with someone else. She just wishes she did things differently. It's strange with these cases because none of this means she doesn't love her kid, but at the same time if she could go back and change the past, she would." -Reddit user BiryaniBabe
"I have two kids and they're an endless series of PTSD triggers. If I had known the extent and nature of my mental health situation I would have never had children.
I love my kids, but it is what it is." -Reddit user abbxrdy
"I don't regret my daughter; she's a smart, healthy and beautiful little girl, we could not be more blessed with her. What I regret is motherhood. I'm not an eager mother, I don't enjoy the mundane grind of school pickups, park visits, watching Frozen 6000 times, drawing stick figures, etc.
I get no joy from it. I'm a good mum, I'm attentive and ever present, I do ALL the things and am extremely responsible, but I'm running in a constant state of "over it," and that poor little girl deserves so much better." -Reddit user yeet_and_defeat
"My son has autism, and I sometimes regret having him. I still love him to death, but when I see that he's not like other kids and doesn'tt really socially interact, it breaks my heart. I worry for his future and what would happen when my husband and I die.
Will he be independent and takes care of himself? I worry a lot." -Reddit user cutebabies0626
"I have an autistic child, and sadly someday, I know I will pass before them. It's a fear all parents of special needs children have unfortunately.
If I had a time machine, I'd go back and either abort or not get pregnant." -Reddit user GurAdorable1814
"My husband left a couple of years after we had our first child. It is hard for a single mother to raise a child on her own, and on top of that, my child wants to visit his father and holds a grudge against me because his father talks about me behind his back.
Now our child is ungrateful and looks up to his alcoholic father." -Reddit user LefterisFaro
"Was blindsided by my biological clock. Should have ignored it.
I am now the mother of a self-centered unpleasant 22-year-old, my relationship with her father is virtually nonexistent, and I spend every day regretting having her." -Reddit user Madoldbat1
"I had been dating my child's mother for 5 years and proposed with her father's permission, so I thought she would say yes, but she denied. Then she came back eight months later pregnant and said she wanted to try again, and left me and the baby a couple of weeks after she had the baby.
I did a paternity test when she left, and it is mine, but I'm now a single dad trying to raise a baby with no help and no child support." -Reddit user Pitvipers69420
"I love my kids, but it took me years to reconcile how much having children requires you to sacrifice. I was pretty depressed after they were born.
It didn't help that I lost my job around the same time." -Reddit user arthur2-shedsjackson
"I love my kids more than anything, but both have autism and other issues. For their sake, I wish I didn't have them. It's all good as long as my wife and I are alive and healthy to take care of them.
But there will be one day we're not able/around. I fear for that day, for their sake. It's not like the world is getting nicer and more empathetic by each passing day." -Reddit user Makkapakka777