I agree with what you are saying, being a parent is a huge privilege. I think the way in which parenting is 'hard' is more emotional, suddenly your whole world seems more fragile or something. That aching love for your children can be an overwhelming uh... investment and a huge change, makes you sort of see things differently; not in a bad way though and hard probably isn't the right way to describe it even. All that would be amplified if we weren't in this country or had children who were very ill I imagine. Not even remotely the same but my DD has a speech issue and that is even heartbreaking, just having to watch her frustration as she tries to say simple words most children have been saying for 12 months (currently working on 'up') and it all coming out the wrong way, trying hard to understand things she wants to communicate and getting it wrong a million times a day; I do find that 'hard', even knowing it is something we can resolve and are working towards doing so, it is hard to watch her struggle I guess. I remember how much having my daughter made me appreciate my own parents. I mean I always thought they were great but when I understood that feeling it was like a huge 'oh wow, think of all the times I must have turned my parents into a mess without even thinking'. There is also the pressure of not wanting to do the wrong thing by her, always wondering if you are making the right choices for them or if you could be doing something more; the responsibility of it all. I wouldn't really consider it a job? To me the job part seems more out of place even than the hard part... hmm

Interesting thread, I do think parenting is the most amazing thing in the world and when she said 'up' completely unprompted I thought I would explode with joy and pride, there is nothing like it. I don't find the general day to day stuff hard nor do I really think of it as a job (okay, maybe I struggle to draw half the animals requested of me haha) but yeah, the emotional ties to her can be pretty... something... think I've rambled a bit myself...