MemeMachineGo!

The Washington Post’s title for this story was Bundles of… Misery.

[A] study of 13,000 U.S. adults found that parents, from those with young children to empty nesters, reported being more miserable than non-parents. The researchers analyzed data from a national survey of families and households that asked respondents how many times in the past week, for example, they felt sad, distracted or depressed. Unlike earlier studies, this one found moms and dads equally unhappy.

So: After all the sleepless nights and drowsy mornings, the cycles of feeding and throwing up, the American Girl doll accessories bought on credit, the toothpick models of the solar system and the algebra tutors … we would have been happier without it all?

In a word, says study author Robin Simon, an associate professor of sociology at Florida State University, yes. “Parents don’t do as well as non-parents,” she said.