Why Does Raising Kids Beat Every Hobby?

David Heinemeier Hansson calls creating life with another human you love the peak experience of being on the planet, because love for people who come directly from your own lineage is very hard to communicate and the sense of meaning from raising children is unparalleled.

He was not a particularly big kids person before his own children arrived. Now they are the most interesting people in the world a lot of the time, though not always, and sometimes they are just assholes. Much of the talk about parenthood dwells on kids being the worst and on everything a parent cannot do, including going out to drink. The loss is sacrifice, and sacrifice is meaningful when it is for something worthwhile. Nothing is more worthwhile than the continuation of the human species and having a stake in it. There is also the sheer joy of watching a human grow from a baby to a toddler to a teenager. His oldest has just become a teenager. He often talks with his wife about how the regret of having missed the opportunity on the last day would be total and unlike anything else. Parenthood is far more satisfying in the moment than the usual portrait allows. Lost sleep, annoyance, and ingratitude are all true, and the meaning still outweighs them.

He is excited about a lot of things. He loves building things and he loves hobbies. Creating life with someone you love still sits above the rest.