Comments on: Women's Happiness and Being a Parent

By: Women’s Happiness and Being a Parent | JewPI

Women’s Happiness and Being a Parent | JewPI — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:56:16 +0000

[...] The last time this happened I was hooked on clothes. Those posts are all linked here, here, here, Read More » Share and Enjoy:Tags: clothes, happiness, last time, parenting, thingPacific Jewish Center | Rabbi [...]

By: Offwinger

Offwinger — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:50:50 +0000

I know I’m late to this post, but the argument that children make people unhappy – or the opposite (having no children makes one happier) seems like a classic post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy to me. Or in other words, the studies show a correlation between happiness and lack of children without demonstrating causation. Granted, I haven’t gone to look up the originals and evaluate the statistical rigour. But it is easy to imagine that perhaps there is something else about people who have no children that makes them happier that is not being captured by the data.

By: Leah

Leah — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:06:39 +0000

Maureen Dowd’s article made me a little angry, but it did spark a lot of good discussion about happiness. I really like your point about happiness v. fairness. I agree- what exactly is the point of measuring happiness?

Beverly Sills once said, “A happy woman is one who has no cares at all; a cheerful woman is one who has cares but doesn’t let them get her down.”

I wrote about my response to the editorial at Jewesses with Attitude if you want to check it out. http://jwablog.jwa.org/unhappiness

By: tesyaa

tesyaa — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:15:32 +0000

I don’t mean that happiness only depends on relationships with other people. That is just one example of something that can lead to real happiness.

By: tesyaa

tesyaa — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:12:00 +0000

I also have been thinking about the article all week (what I read was an oped column by Maureen Dowd).

I agree with you that it depends on your definition of happiness. Children not only take away free time, they add stress. (For example, even when I have “free” time, I am always thinking about my kids and their needs. And it’s very rare that I have any free time).

But real happiness probably depends on lasting relationships with other people, and hopefully we who have children will enjoy these relationships for a long time.

One more thing: I have a 5 year old who’s mostly nonverbal. Every time he learns a new sound or a new word, I am filled with real happiness. If he didn’t have a speech problem, I wouldn’t have this opportunity for happiness. Would my life overall be happier if he never had special needs? Who can know these things?

By: rabbifink

rabbifink — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:04:17 +0000

there ya go!

By: Menachem Ickovitz

Menachem Ickovitz — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:03:22 +0000

sounds awesome!

By: rabbifink

rabbifink — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:44:28 +0000

LOL. You are funny Menachem…

BTW for your “URL” a lot of people use their twitter page – so for you it would be http://twitter.com/menudo_man.

By: Menachem Ickovitz

Menachem Ickovitz — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:41:27 +0000

I’d like to state for the record that I have loads of free time and am not overly happy

By: Menachem Ickovitz

Menachem Ickovitz — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:41:00 +0000

I’d like to state for the record that I have loads of free time and am not overly happy