Children and Time
I tend to act differently around people that I know are parents.
As much as I try to treat people equitably, I can't get past this one. It has a lot to do with someone that lots of parents have told me: "Having kids changes everything in your life."
I don't fully understand it, but I think I have a cursory grasp of what they're saying. Having kids shifts your priorities. It changes the way you see the world. It changes the way you act and what you value most in life.
It's something that I don't understand, so I respect it. And the best strategy I have for dealing with these people is this: shutting the hell up. The best I can do by talking more to a parent is make myself sound stupid.
But one thing I have noticed is that a lot of parents are supremely productive people. Again, I'm not a parent, but I can only imagine that kids take up a lot of a parent's time. Despite this, I know lots of people with kids who still manage to accomplish a lot with their time. I'm taking a class right now, and my professor is a parent who is the chairman of the college department, holds a full-time job, does side work, attends game programming conferences, and teaches classes. And he's got kids.
I know people without kids, and without full-time jobs, who aren't nearly that productive. (e.g. me) This leads me to believe that having kids, even though it consumes time, makes the parents more mindful of the time they have left over in the day, and forces them to manage it. Whereas if you're like a lot of people, you have ample time, but you tend to squander it.
As much as I try to treat people equitably, I can't get past this one. It has a lot to do with someone that lots of parents have told me: "Having kids changes everything in your life."
I don't fully understand it, but I think I have a cursory grasp of what they're saying. Having kids shifts your priorities. It changes the way you see the world. It changes the way you act and what you value most in life.
It's something that I don't understand, so I respect it. And the best strategy I have for dealing with these people is this: shutting the hell up. The best I can do by talking more to a parent is make myself sound stupid.
But one thing I have noticed is that a lot of parents are supremely productive people. Again, I'm not a parent, but I can only imagine that kids take up a lot of a parent's time. Despite this, I know lots of people with kids who still manage to accomplish a lot with their time. I'm taking a class right now, and my professor is a parent who is the chairman of the college department, holds a full-time job, does side work, attends game programming conferences, and teaches classes. And he's got kids.
I know people without kids, and without full-time jobs, who aren't nearly that productive. (e.g. me) This leads me to believe that having kids, even though it consumes time, makes the parents more mindful of the time they have left over in the day, and forces them to manage it. Whereas if you're like a lot of people, you have ample time, but you tend to squander it.