it kind of is, but its instinctual. you suddenly see your own childhood reflected from a new parental perspective, and you suddenly understand countless things you never did. you see yourself as part of a chain of parent/child stretching back a billion years… you see unspeakable purpose in protecting and nurturing and loving and raising this floppy lump of screaming snot into a future lovable thing. they look like you, with the most innocent eyes, and they can not quite hold up their own head.
Or… that’s the result of hormonal changes and the brain creating an excuse for the cognitive dissonance that results. It’s an evolutionary trait to further propagation of the species, nothing more. Your mind tricking you into liking something because you created it. The human mind creates fantasies all the damned time typo cope with situations.
In a different context. Your abuser isn’t that bad, they provide for you, give you a place to stay, and clearly care for you, just in their own way. Clearly they actually love you and you need to return those feelings to show your appreciation. The physical abuse is only a small punishment when you misbehave, you deserved it.
Yeah… I see where you’re coming from, but… Just no. I’m a caregiver for my mother, and it’s very similar to what others are talking about. Being responsible for someone you love can be a wonderful thing. If you don’t want kids, don’t have them, if you’re not close to your parents, don’t agree to be their caregiver. But that sort of familial love, knowing that you are doing what you can to make life as good as possible for another human is an amazing feeling, even when it’s frustrating. Even if there are massive hormonal changes in parents when they have kids, which there are, it doesn’t negate anything about the love they feel for their children. Babies are not manipulating you. Hormones help us form those bonds, but the bonds are real nonetheless.
As someone who has a child and is also a survivor of abuse: it’s in very poor taste to compare babies to abusers.
