My point was that parents with children made their choice and should thus bear the responsibility for it. It's not some accident or unexpected thing like getting a disease or something. It is far more like having some super high-maintenance pet or hobby that sucks up gobs of time and complicates everything.
Now I do make an effort and will continue to visit friends and family with kids, but it is a much shittier experience than visiting friends and family that don't have kids. The children dictate way too much of the experience and suck up all the attention in the room (although this is also an artifact of modern Western parenting).
Again though: the parents chose that life. I had absolutely no say in it. So the situation is that I (have to) put more effort into our relationship and they put less into it. Due to the choices they made.
So don't try to make me feel bad for not feeling sorry for them or being tempted to choose social outings that are free from temper tantrums, brightly colored plastic toys, short attention spans and uninteresting conversations about how 'they can already do multiplication'. We all make our choices.
Children or not, I don't believe I'd want such a friend around in any case. Which is also a choice, just based on something different than what you think.
Now I do make an effort and will continue to visit friends and family with kids, but it is a much shittier experience than visiting friends and family that don't have kids. The children dictate way too much of the experience and suck up all the attention in the room (although this is also an artifact of modern Western parenting).
Again though: the parents chose that life. I had absolutely no say in it. So the situation is that I (have to) put more effort into our relationship and they put less into it. Due to the choices they made.
So don't try to make me feel bad for not feeling sorry for them or being tempted to choose social outings that are free from temper tantrums, brightly colored plastic toys, short attention spans and uninteresting conversations about how 'they can already do multiplication'. We all make our choices.