I was billing hours while my wife was in labor (it's actually a pretty long and boring process). My kid was almost certainly in daycare when she took her first steps. She won't remember anything that happens before four or five. Whether I'm there for any particular random milestone only has the importance that I assign to it mentally. Obviously kids want your time and you need time with them. The best part of my day is when my daughter toddles up to me when I get home. But kids are usually really flexible. You don't have to be there for artificial milestones just because some parenting magazine hypes them up.

The other 9 either try and try again until they are wasted. The other just fall back on regular job, like what happens for developers when they tire of startup.

About the priorities, the problem is the brainwashing and easy money that lead people to try to get always more.

If you have the willpower you are able to retire very early and be with your kids full time while still living a life normal people need 2 good full time salaries to live.

I would not have had the willpower my friend displayed so I have limited regrets. But I still need to put my kid at the nursery in November, need to live in a foreign country far from our family and live in poor area of the city that I hope I will be able to leave before I need to send my kid to school.