Cute baby holding a small gift while sitting on a parent's lap indoors.

“The Worst Mistake I’ve Made”: Mom Admits She Hates Having More Than One Child

A stranger on the internet just said the quiet part out loud: having a second child feels, to her, like “the worst mistake” she has ever made. In a raw anonymous post, the mom admits she loves both of her kids but hates what parenting looks like when they are together, and she wishes she had stopped at one. Her confession has tapped into a growing, uncomfortable conversation about what happens when the dream of a bigger family collides with the reality of modern parenthood.

The anonymous confession that rattled parents

a man holding a baby in his arms
Photo by Toa Heftiba

The mom’s story starts off like a familiar script. She had one child, then welcomed a second, expecting the usual chaos and sweetness people promise when siblings arrive. Instead, she describes a daily grind of bickering, tantrums, and outings that implode before they even leave the driveway. In her anonymous post, later picked up and illustrated with an image credited to Yuganov Konstantin and Shutterstock, she calls having more than one child the worst decision she has made, not because she dislikes her kids as individuals, but because the dynamic between them has turned her life into something she barely recognizes.

She explains that she feels like a decent parent when she has one child at a time, but everything falls apart when both are in the room. The noise, the constant refereeing, and the sense that every family outing is one meltdown away from disaster leave her fantasizing about the simpler days when she had only one child to manage. In a follow up that highlighted the same anonymous account as “Written on Jan 10, 2026,” she doubles down on that regret, saying she dreads basic errands because she is bracing for the next tantrum or public scene.

“I love them both so much, but I hate parenting them both”

What makes her confession sting is the way she separates her feelings about her children from her feelings about the job of raising them. She insists she loves each child deeply, yet says she “hates” the experience of parenting two at once. In coverage of her post, she is quoted saying that having more than one child is “honestly feeling like the worst mistake,” a line that has echoed across parenting forums and social feeds. One report on her story, tagged with the phrase “Mom Admits She Hates Her Kids When They” and “Together,” underscores how she feels fine with either child solo, but the combination leaves her overwhelmed and resentful, especially when she compares herself to parents who seem to glide through Having More Than one.

In another account of the same anonymous mom, she spells it out even more bluntly: “I love them both so much but I hate parenting them both.” She says any attempt to go somewhere as a family is “ruined” by fighting or tears, and that she only truly enjoys her kids when they are not together. That report notes that she “just had the younger” child and is already being told by others that it will get easier when the kids are older, advice she meets with a mix of hope and skepticism. Her words about loving them individually but struggling with the pair appear in a detailed write up that quotes her saying she only feels like herself when the children are apart and that she is clinging to the idea that things might improve as the kids get a.

Why her regret hits a nerve far beyond one family

The anonymous mom is not the only parent saying the quiet part out loud. In another widely shared account, a similar confession describes how “it is hard with two at these ages,” with the constant fighting and general noise “doing your head in.” That piece captures the same sense of regret and exhaustion, with the writer admitting that the fantasy of siblings entertaining each other has been replaced by a reality of endless conflict and a parent who feels like a full time referee. The description of the “fighting and the general noise” appears in a section flagged as “More in Lifestyle,” underscoring that this is not a one off meltdown but a daily pattern that leaves the parent wondering if life would have been calmer with just two at these.

Another report on the same story leans into the emotional whiplash of loving your children and resenting the life that comes with them. It notes that the mom’s anonymous post was picked up and shared widely, with readers zeroing in on her line that she wishes she had only one child. That coverage, which again references Yuganov Konstantin and Shutterstock in its framing, shows how her words have become a kind of shorthand for a broader parental burnout. The article points out that she is far from alone, citing other parents who quietly admit similar feelings in private groups, even as they publicly post smiling photos of their kids together.

The bigger conversation about “hellish” parenthood

Her confession is landing at a moment when the culture is already rethinking what parenthood really feels like. Earlier this year, pop star Chappell Roan described parenthood as “hell,” a comment that sparked a fierce online debate. Some parents were furious, accusing her of disrespecting families, while others quietly nodded along, saying the word captured the relentlessness of caregiving, sleep deprivation, and financial strain. In a deeper look at that backlash, experts weighed in on how her remark cracked open a conversation about the gap between the glossy image of parenting and the lived reality, with the piece noting that her comments “triggered a major online debate” as professionals weighed in on the realities of parenthood.

Against that backdrop, the anonymous mom’s regret about having more than one child feels less like a shocking outlier and more like another data point in a larger reckoning. Other parents quoted in coverage of her story echo her language, saying they “hate” the job of juggling multiple kids even as they adore each child. One detailed write up of her confession, which links her words to a broader trend of parents speaking anonymously about regret, notes that she is far from the only one who feels trapped by the expectations around family size. That same report, which traces her story back to an initial anonymous post later amplified with a photo credit to Yuganov Konstantin and Shutterstock, shows how quickly a single raw admission can spread when it taps into a pressure so many parents quietly carry but rarely dare to say out loud.

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