Susan's Eating By James Gilbert

One of the ideas Gilbert has in his essay that really shines through for me is specifically how he emphasizes the astounding price we pay. In reality, we do pay a lot for our children. We pay for their basic necessities like food, diapers, and clothing. We pay for extravagant cribs and top of the line car seats to ensure safety. Parents go into debt, take on multiple jobs and give up promising careers to provide. They make sacrifices every day whether it be dad walking 6 miles to work every day to save money, so their child can get the Lunchables with the juice pack, or maybe even give up that Snickers bar mom has been saving for “mommy time”. They take a good portion of our paychecks let's be honest. That is simply taking care of a child 101.
They found we enjoy doing just about anything more.That to me seems pretty far fetched. Especially since I would much rather watch a kid than doing dishes. It is almost like they are referring to an alien species that controls our mind into thinking we are having a good time, not so much as the life that we created. It is so primal to love them, but that is exactly just what it is, an adaptation. My own mother, for example, she was young, had her whole life ahead of her until I graced the earth with my arrival. She would get calls all the time asking if she wanted to go out and party it up. She would politely decline and continue to play Barbies with me. When my dad would come home from having a beer with his “buds”, my mom would begin to just brutally tear into him about how she never has time to go out. My dad never did understand her. She was invited out on multiple occasions and he volunteered to babysit. Why would she choose to stay home? She had every opportunity, and I would not have minded hanging out with my dad, or even grandparents for a few