Does Having Children Negatively Affect Quality of Life?

Does having children negatively affect quality of life? Discover the answer to this question here!

The answer to whether having children negatively affects quality of life isn’t simple because it’s neither yes nor no. Having children changes your life, as your priorities also change. It’s no longer about what you want or need, as it’s also important to provide your children a good life as well.

What happens is that, sometimes, these two goals conflict. Therefore, especially in the early years, parents sacrifice certain aspects of their quality of life for their children.

What elements make up quality of life?

Quality of life is a subjective concept because each person understands it differently. In addition, not all aspects are of the same importance for each person.

We’ll take as a reference the quality of life chart based on the Handbook on Quality of Life for Human Service Practitioners from M. A. Verdugo, professor at the University of Salamanca, and others. This chart consists of eight factors that determine quality. However, we’re only going to focus on the ones that vary the most when a person has children.

Physical and psychological health

It’s inevitable that the lack of sleep, worries, or increased responsibilities affect you. This translates into more physical and mental tiredness. Therefore, patience, humor, and concentration are aspects that are affected.

However, not everything is negative. The physical activities parents do with their children can be compared to sports in many ways. Nevertheless, the psychological part is the most important. Seeing how a child grows, learns, and overcomes obstacles is comforting and exciting and makes parents proud.

Social relationships

Your circle of acquaintances will grow as your child grows. This is because you’ll have many opportunities to meet new people when you accompany your children to school or their extracurricular activities. It’ll be easy to talk with them because they’re parents who are in your same situation.

But what about your family and friends? There may be times when it’s harder for you to balance your day-to-day life with your children with spending time with your friends and family. However, the good news is that this isn’t permanent. The key is to find a balance between responsibilities and social relationships, closely related to leisure.

Leisure

Leisure is a key factor in having a good quality of life. If you do activities that you like, you’ll feel good, happier, and more energetic. What’s the most common problem when you have children? That you have less time for yourself!

When your children are small, you can make plans with your family or friends. Thus, you’ll boost your social relationships while spending time with your children.

On the other hand, as they grow, you can share hobbies and do activities or play sports together. These bonds positively impact your quality of life. In addition, while your children enjoy the activities they do with other children, you can use that time for your personal entertainment, which you’ll find very rewarding.

Quality of life, children, and work?

Work is a key point to consider. This is because it largely influences your quality of life, at an economic, psychological, physical, and self-fulfilment level.

The truth is that, in many cases, when a woman has children, she isn’t eligible for positions of greater responsibility in the company she works at. It’s true that having children can affect work performance, but in the same way as work affects people’s daily lives.

Thus, one of the biggest obstacles is job uncertainty. However, if you can find the balance, you can achieve these three goals.

Quality of life with children

Having children changes your life and its quality because it’s a continuous roller coaster. Does it negatively affect your quality of life? Sometimes. Do they enhance your life? That too. Sometimes, it’ll be easier, while other times it will be harder.