That “freedom” that you speak of is replaced with reward. We certainly don’t get out as much as we used to as a couple but I’d rather spend a night in with the kids than go out and do some of the other stuff we did when we had “freedom.” Of course prioritizing our marriage and our own hobbies (mine being hunting) is still extremely important to us. You prioritize what is important to you. I would bet right now I hunt 25% less than I did before kids, but I still go two weeks out of state EVERY year because that was communicated that it wouldn’t end with children. My kids are 5, 3, and 10mos. I’ve been raising a baby for damn near 6 years straight with toddlers compounding it the last few years. I’ll be at 100% of what I was doing before in two years because I take care of business all the other times. Work, kids, wife, volunteering. Yeah, you’re going to have less freedom, but you just have to prioritize and make more time for the things that are important. If hunting is important, kids won’t ever cut into it as much as the reward you get from bringing them into your life. I promise you, if you prioritize it, and work hard at all the other aspects of your life, you won’t ever feel like they’ve cut into your freedom even though you may be forced to do less for a while. Work hard, raise a family, kill some shit, and pray you’re fortunate enough to take your kids along someday.Lol, no. This would be a really bad way of broadcasting it.
The TLDR is that my wife and I are very undecided on having kids 5 years into our marriage, and 14 years of being together. We both have agreed that we really enjoy our freedom but we still kind of want one.
There’s way more to this obviously but that’s a lot to type..