We all want children until we have them.

As an EMT for Schaefer’s Ambulance here in L.A., I assisted in three births and let me tell you if men had to go through labor we would have gone extinct a long time ago.

Women are so strong and after going through all that pain continue to have children. I would have said, “Don’t you ever touch me again!” but then I am a man. If you don’t believe in the strength of women try standing next to a lady giving birth. You women are the true heroes in life. If we men get a hernia at the gym you’re going to hear about it for years. When is the last time you were at a dinner party and heard a mother complain about contractions?

If life were perfect we would enjoy the company of our children only from the day they are toilet trained to high school when they steal your ATM card out of your wallet and claim it must have fallen out at the car wash. If you’re going to have children, pray for a girl. Not that boys aren’t a bundle of joy but they tend to forget your birthday, name and where you live once they leave home.

Let’s be honest here, girls are much smarter and they stick around even when you can’t afford to buy them pretty things, catcher mitts or a new set of tools. Girls today are free to explore whatever they want, whether it be a doll house or new football helmet. That part of progress I love. Sure, a son might keep your surname alive but daughters will be there when you break a hip trying to install a ceiling fan. Been there, done that.

Now if you have a boy you might be offended by what I’ve written here. You should be. Every child deserves to have a proud parent, even if that baby was unplanned and you felt, at first, it was God’s way of teaching you to use condoms. When my son was born I was so ecstatic when I first saw him that I cried and I am not a crying kind of guy, despite what you might have heard in chat rooms.

If you are a parent or grandparent you know what I am talking about. If you don’t have children and hope to be a parent one day I can assure you the best years of your life are just ahead. It doesn’t matter how successful you are or how many cool things you have bought, nothing compares to the joy of your child entering this world.

My son belongs to a biker club and when he found out his wife was expecting a girl he was bummed. It didn’t take long before he realized just how much daughters adore their fathers. When she was 10 and playing in a softball team he attended every single game. If Angel caught a ball or got to first base she would always look first for her daddy in the stands. Nothing else mattered but his smile.

Many times I wish my son had been born a girl. I raised Tyson by myself and will write another time about those years. Sure, I would have loved to be rich and famous but watching my kid grow up was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Children are definitely God’s greatest gift. Don’t you agree?