Parenthood is something a person can't fully understand, appreciate, or attempt to explain until they have experienced it firsthand. A lot of people find this out the hard way -- like when they make grand plans for what they're going to be like as a parent, only to discover it's nothing like they imagined that it would be.
It's interesting to hear the Hank Green of 2007 talk about parenthood long before he would eventually become a parent himself. Especially since his attitude toward having kids of his own clearly changed between then and now.
Welcome (or welcome back) to Vlogbrothers Rewatch! This is an ongoing series of daily articles documenting my journey through the entire Vlogbrothers YouTube channel back catalog from start to (maybe?) finish. Using this playlist, I'm watching every video in chronological order from the very beginning and sharing observations and commentary on it as I go.
Hank could recognize at this point that his mother especially gave her kids a lot and did not receive much back in return. What he could not have understood from experience when making this video is that good parents -- the ones who truly love and care about their kids -- don't expect anything from them in return.
Deciding to become a parent and taking on that responsibility, making the necessary sacrifices and choices necessary to do what's best for your kids, changes you in more ways than you could ever expect without going through that process. You become a different person. You become an unrecognizable version of yourself that you have to accept and love and grow with.
No one should ever have to go through all this unwillingly, but it's always interesting to see in what ways parenthood makes some people better in ways they never could have previously thought possible.