For years I have claimed that I would happily die at about 40, as long as I had achieved everything I wanted to. We are brought up expecting to get jobs, find a husband/wife, have kids, look after our kids, retire and then have grandchildren. With over approximately half a million children born each year in the UK, the amount of adults that become parents is so common. 

Before I met my friend’s nephew, I was happy to skip these last few steps because I had always found kids annoying and pointless. There are too many of us in the first place so why lose out on approximately £175k and not be able to do exactly what you want for a minimum of 18 years of your life?  

I know it sounds miserable, but I had been very content with this attitude towards life for a long time because I am so determined to take life by the horns. I want to be as successful as I can and then use any wealth I have accumulated over the years to do absolutely mental things and just enjoy my life. Kids would just anchor me to one place, I’m enough responsibility as it is, let alone another human being. Especially when if you do a bad job, they could end up having a rubbish life anyway and then what was the point? 

Like I said, this attitude was before I met my friend’s nephew. Her nephew is called James, he is 2 years old, and he might be the greatest thing to ever happen to planet earth. As the door opened, he looked up at me in awe, of course he immediately ran to his aunt but he stood there, trying to figure out if he should be scared of me or give me a hug. Within about half an hour he was requesting for me rather than his own mother for “big jumps”, this is where he spends about 5 minutes pretending to jump off the sofa until he eventually throws himself into my arms. As he finally came flying towards me with a grin across his face, I realised that I could do this myself. Most definitely no time soon but having this special, beautiful person that you care for, and you get to see grow and change sounds exactly like what I want to do for the second half of my life.  

And of course, these beautiful benefits of having a child don’t come without an obscene amount of hard work. A child isn’t quite as simple as those couple of hours playing cars with them. It is the responsibility of the life of a human being, the nappy changing, the bickering, the dressing them and so much more.

A kid isn’t for an adrenaline boost, it’s for life. And I know that but meeting James made me realise that all of that effort would be worth it, just not right now. 

I hope to have kids one day, they might not be my own but I’m finally starting to get the appeal of having a little person that makes you smile.