Do you ever regret having children?

Exactly the same, aroseby. We had very good reasons for stopping at 2 and DH said it was time for him to 'take one for the team'. No regrets at all here either- and never regretted not having more than two.

I love my children and grandchildren , am proud of them all, but if I had my life over again, knowing so much more about myself, I would neither marry nor have children.

We chose to have 2 children and we had them exactly when we wanted them.
Quite scary really! DH had a vasectomy soon after our 2nd was born.
Our wider family is quite small so we are a close knit group and the cherry on top is our 2 grandchildren.
No regrets here

I think I would ask my daughter by letter what I have done wrong and why she has cut me out of her life.
I would remind her that I am getting on in life and would like to make things up before it is too late.
Finally I would never cut my daughter out of my Will, no matter what. She is your flesh and blood after all, and so is her child.
My mother fell out with my brother on several occasions and kept changing her will to cut him out or to include him. Unfortunately he committed suicide at the age of 28. She said "And I had cut him out of my Will just before he did it." She always regretted it.

Absolutely not!

No ...I never regret it, even though for no reason ever explained to me (no argument, falling out, nothing...which makes it harder to understand !) my only daughter has cut me off totally from her life. I discovered online she is married and has a son who is 3 ……..BUT I feel it is her life, I provided everything I could for her on my own ...private education, university (I paid the rent and fees) a car when she passed her test at 17 ….unconditional love, as you do, everything I possibly could to make her life easier …..no regrets, it is what you do for your children if you are able to …………………..but …….now I have an inheritance, I wonder …...do I leave her anything in my Will, or the grandson I have never, and likely never to, meet ………...I know where she lives and her married name, other than that ...nothing ! I really feel inclined to not bother ..although my solicitor says she may contest the Wll….yes, but since I have moved she will not know where I am, or that I have died (when I do !!),,,,,,,what would you do ?

If wishes were horses, beggars would ride

Cant remember the rest ….its about having a watch and wearing it by my side.

Few people have no regrets about the path they took. I would have waited until 25 or even 30 to have had children, not in my very early 20s when we had no money. I had to have the kids looked after while I worked. Both lovely children and now I have wonderful grandchildren too.

I have two sons, one of whom was the most impossible toddler ever. Even then I didn’t regret having children, not for a moment. Now that I’m old (79) I am incredibly grateful I have them. They are both good, and the impossible toddler has helped me so much when my health took a downturn. I can’t imagine what I’d have done without him.

I always wanted girls, but now it doesn't worry me at all that I didn’t have any. I have a granddaughter!

never i loved them at all stages of their childhood and adulthood and still do.

Never! My daughter is the best thing that has ever happened to me. We have always been incredibly close. She is kind, thoughtful, funny and extremely brainy. I am now the proud grandmother of her only daughter. My husband and I consider ourselves fortunate to have these two amazing females in our lives!

Brave of u to say

No never regretted have my dd or DS. All I regret or both of us do(dh of course) is losing our DS in 2007 at the age of 35.
We have lovely memories of ou children, and my Dd has been a godsend. We have also brought up our gd too. After ou DS died too. Her mother was a waste of space.

Ditto Gillybob, never regretted it at all but would have been good to have been in better circumstances. Always thought must be so nice to be married/ in a permanent relationship and be looking forward to getting pregnant and preparing for a baby.

I have three boys and got sick of people saying " aw no girls?" I love my boys and yes they are independent and I think a girl would of been nice but they are three great sons and dads so a good job well done I would say! Love m to bits !

Two in three years unplanned,hard work and barely out of my teens was to make me appreciate in later years just how much we had in common. You can say we grew up together.

Daddima - I worked for Lloyds Bank, and there was still a hangover from the practice of not employing married women. When I was married in 1966 I received “the married women’s allowance” which was £10 for each year you’d worked there. I’d started at 15 so £50 was a huge amount in the 60’s, and then carried on working. In the early ‘80’s when gender equality came in I discovered that when I got married I had “broken service” when I had received that money which was actually a “thank you and goodbye” and the five years between 15 and 20 could not count towards my pension!! £50 didn’t seem quite so much then?. I have two daughters, we’ve all always been really close and I am delighted with all the fun we’ve had and the joy they’ve brought.

Never, my son is now 41 and I am proud of him.

We wanted to have 3 children but it wasn’t to be ?

Even with family estrangement which we are all currently living through, I don’t regret having my son, ever.

And now with 4 grandchildren, that’s even more blessings.....

My children are in their 40s and 50s and I love them both very much. I also love their DHs and the four GCs (2 each). I have to admit I don't always like what they do (particularly one DD). On the whole though they are pretty fantastic, no regrets whatsoever.

Dianeatdarcie tiny bit off topic but I was talking to a young Chinese student recently and we got onto the single child policy and how it was now relaxed. I won t have any children, she said emphatically. I want to do other things in my life.

She's doing a master's degree in English. She speaks 4 languages. She was an only child.

I was rather surprised and wondered to myself that she hadn't yet been in love!

Of course - and never in a million years - and I hold these views strongly and at the same time!

Sorry, love my 3 children to bits and my grandchildren, however given a second chance, would not have had any. When I look at the world today, and the opportunities available, which I was unable to access in the 60's, I am sure children would not have been on my agenda.

Being a mother and Grandmother have given me the most joyous moments of my life.
Being an adoptive mother has given me my worst moments. Adopted daughter though loved truly and whole heartedly turned on us when we couldn't, wouldn't give her any more money.

Can I just point out that of the very few of us who have been honest and admitted that could we turn back time we would, none of us said we don't love our children. Of course we love them. I would do anything for mine and I'm sure everyone feels the same.

Mine were wonderful as children, and are wonderful now as adults. They are brilliant people who anyone would be proud of, as I am. That still doesn't alter the truthful fact that if I could turn back time I would, and would have kept taking the pill.

Yes, although I have always loved them, I do regret having children. My oldest daughter is a joy, but I was a 16-year-old single parent when I had her and things were very difficult for years. I didn’t want any more children, but my later husband did and persuaded me. I came around to the idea and loved them dearly. I divorced their father when they were young adults with their own lives. Despite this my son cut me out of his life at that point (11-years-ago). My younger daughter has been difficult since reaching the age of 13 (she was delightful before then). Family life was pretty much dictated by what mood she was in! Shockingly, this did not improve as she grew into an adult. If I had my time again, I would choose another path.

I always wanted a large family which I have by default, my DD has 4 Half-Siblings & 2 Step-Siblings

I never regretted having my DD, went through a tough time as I was a single parent for a while & returned to education for 3 years. My DH was her adored Step-Father, during her last years at Primary School & the rest of her education I worked full-time & could have persued a career but I decided to put her needs first as training would have meant long hours away from home & DH worked long hours.

I thought I would never be a Nan as DD is in a same sex relationship (now married) but she had other ideas & has given me 2 adorable DGS.