Nah my kids broke me before Covid. Covid just made it harder. Obviously ymmv but your kids breaking you happens without it without a pandemic.

I think the big question is once broken, and the kids finally start not completely breaking you every week... can you rebuild with the pieces left :)

We'll see! I have 10+ years to go before I'll find out for sure.

Thanks. I'm not as miserable as I make it sounds but the life I had before is 100% gone and dead. I enjoy much of my days and adore my children but I do spend a lot of time realizing there's a lot of things I want to do that just won't happen. I also notice that every time a colleague talks about "working on something over the weekend" or learning more stuff after work I fall further behind professionally.

Honestly? They are doing something “productive” over the weekend but may be burning themselves out or won’t experience the good parts of parenting that weekend.

Don’t mean to put down those who don’t have kids - like myself - but I’m sure the grass seems greener elsewhere, especially when you’re tired.

Before I had kids, whenever I was tired at worm, someone would say "you think that's bad? Wait til you have kids." I would roll my eyes and assume it was either hyperbole or that it was a mildly more intense version of what I felt. Of course, you know that I was wrong, and after 96 hours with a newborn I knew I was wrong too.

I compare the exhaustion you feel from parenting tothe effects of psychedelic drugs. It's pervasive, life altering, and impossible to explain to someone who hasn't experienced it.