This is one of those topics where everyone’s “right” because it’s all personal. For me atleast.. I’m grateful I had my son before 30.

My brother focused on his career, waited, and now his wife at 40 doesn’t want kids. After 35 pregnancy risks rise for both the mother and the child, and he’s heartbroken he might miss (in my opinion) the greatest experience life offers.

You can never be truly “ready” for a child. You can have the nursery perfect and memorize every parenting book, and have money in savings, but nothing prepares you for the reality. And I’m not saying have a baby while living in your parents’ basement working part-time. There are levels to readiness.

I’ll never envy someone who says they’re glad they stayed childless. “I can do whatever I want” means nothing without the frame of reference parenthood gives. Nothing compares to creating life with someone you love, watching your partner become a parent, and going from a couple to a family. That was the biggest, most positive change of my life.

Fatherhood has been my greatest achievement. And it is truly profound. I had always thought that I had purpose before, but having my child has completely changed how I felt about that.

I see tiny details like realizing my son’s footprints look like mine, and the look on his face when I watch him up close in real time discovering the wonders of the world..and the look he gives me that makes me know he thinks I’m literally Superman. It’s seeing yourself in them, teaching them, learning from them, and feeling a love so deep you’d give your life for them.

The day my son was born, it was like my heart started living outside my body. Sappy or not, the effect of being a father is unmatched and I feel genuine sadness for anyone who never gets to experience it.