i'm 24 and have a 4 year old. he means the world to me. the little booger is crazy! but when i get out of work, the only thing that relaxes me is my son and soon to be wife. it matured me big time, that i have to say.

 

I have a 5 year old brother and being 14 when he was born i have to say it was the one of the biggest wake up calls of my life! It was very effective in watching myself and wrapping that rascal! He is a great kid but i know damn well at 19 im not yet mature enough or have the patients for a kid. I dont think ill have kids for another 15 years if i have them. I got plenty of stuff to do in the meantime

 

No kids for me it just aint going to happen(unless by accident). I have two littke brithers and they drive me nutts when I lived at home. Im almost 20(jan8th) and I know I couldnt handle one either or any time soon I dont think. Maybe my view will change after I am out of college and have my permanent job and a house maybe then but Im with you trey.

Damn Kevin you were a busy man 4 kids in 5 years"eek2:

 

I agree with the comment earlier..
get your career inline, and your life in check before you have Kids...
if your not mentally, and financially ready it can be very hard, and frustrating...

One being that you want to provide the very best for your kid....

those of you that say you will never. or ever want kids..
have one.. it will change your mind..
seeing someone elses kid, and observing what the kid does, is not the same.
you will never love something as much as you will him/her,
you are in aww when you first hold him/her in your arms for the first time..
I will NEVER forget that...
that was the greatest moment in my life, to see my Daughter for the very first time..
I also get a kick out of watching her grow up.. and hear her call me daddy, and want to play..
Yes she is a girl, and I dread the days when she gets old enough to think about boys..
(been there, and I know what goes through the little bastards minds......., now I know how my father in-law felt when I was dating my wife.....)
but she loves to help daddy work on the truck...

just a little advise tho to future dads, and mothers...
YOU are responsible for how your children act.. not TV, not school, not a book, or a video game..
YOU must teach the kid how too respect their parents, and to respect others that interact with them...respect is also earned, not given
If you show a kid Love and warmth, they will show you love back..
But you must also discipline them as well, and this is very hard.. but do it in a loving way..I hate to discipline my little angel, but there are rules, and if you break the rules, you must face the consequinces......

(the last bit is just my .02, I am not telling anyone how to raise their children... this is my belief, and does not condone, anyone for how they raise there children..
with that said....)
Good luck to all...
and I love my daughter, more than anything in the world....
she is my Sunshine on a rainy day..

 

Kids are expensive, constant responsibility, and will drive you completely insane. At the same time I wouldn't trade my 3 for anything. I have 2 girls 11 and 8, and 1 boy 6. How does $1100 a month in day care sound in the summertime when they are out of school? My wife works and gets home late so I get to do the homework, cook dinner, get baths, brush teeth, pack lunches, do dishes blah blah...It gets old but I guess you get used to it. It gets easier as they get older. They become more self sufficient. The better discipline you enforce the better kid you get. I have had on several occasions people in a restaurant walk up and tell me how well behaved my kids are. I tell them "Because they don't want a whippin'" Most people laugh because they think I'm kidding. I'm not. My first was born when I was 19. I already had joined the Air Force so the job was pretty secure but if I was a college student or had a crappy job I don't know how I would have done it.
Kids are great but, be ready to be mean to them when they need it (which will make you feel worse than them most of the time) and be ready to shell out serious mod money. Clothes, daycare, food, field trips, projects, school supplies, sports equipment or dance lessons and band instruments...it never ends. I'm already saving for their cars and college tuition. 12 more years until I retire, from children anyway. But from what I've seen on this site, 18, 20, 22 year olds still asking Mom and Dad for $$ to get truck stereos, tune, gears, rims, gas....maybe it really does NEVER end!

 

Hey hey hey I paid for every bit of my damn expensive *** motor daddy dont pay for ANY of my mods unless it is a gift for my b-day or Christmas.

My hat goes off to all you parents I dont know how my parents kept from going crazy with me I look back and see some of the stuff that I did when I was younger and I dont see how my mom or dad kept from killing me. Looking back I can see that jumping off the roof of the house with a 55 gallon trash bag above thinking it owuld work as a parachute wasnt such a smart idea. Resulted in a nice broken arm Boys will definately be a handfull but I would much rather have a boy then deal with little pimple face punks showing at my door step I would definately have to show them the gun collection.

 

My son has already had 2 broken bones, dislocated his elbow twice, and had stitches in his chin. He is always running into something or falling down because he won't slow his little *** down and relax! LOL! He took a line drive to the face in T-ball (he was on the pitchers mound) and went straight back and fell down. Then he cried for a minute, then laughed and kept playing. Something is wrong with that kid. Get this...my wife buys him a bike ramp for Christmas ...I was like "Are you serious?" That's all he needs is help hurting himself.

 

Well having your wife buying him a ramp is likely much better than me and my cousins approach when we were younger (youngest 9, myself 10 and older cousin 11) we thought we could build our own... how that didn't end with any of us in the hospital I'll never know haha

 

Awwh come on you dont remember doing stupid things when you were a kid? Sounds like you got a tough little son wait till he gets into motorized vehicles Lets just say my first go-cart didnt fair so well

 

Of course I did some stupid things, I still do from time to time I just understand it's all part of being a boy. He's dangerous enough on a bicycle. I almost got him a 50cc 4 wheeler this year... I think I'll start him off on the riding mower (Blades not engaged) then work him up to go -karts and dirt bikes.

But back on topic: You can put up with a lot more if it comes from your kids but you have to draw the line. I see many parents who are run by their kids, and while it's funny to me, it's going to cause the kids problems in life when they are older and have to provide for themselves.