As a thirty-something with no kids but a wealth of cats, I might complain, but I have it pretty easy. Despite the incessant vet bills, taking care of a cat is a lot easier and somehow a lot cheaper than raising a human child. A friend of mine shared an alarming statistic with her Instagram friends recently – the lifetime cost of raising a child here in the United States, as of 2022, is estimated at a whopping $272,049.  That’s a staggering number, one that makes me feel like I’m definitely never going to pop out any kids. My friends who have decided to procreate may be more well-off than me, but they’re definitely not rich. So I’m starting to understand how parenting in this day and age can make a person pretty damn salty. Which checks out when I think about all the memes my buddies share about their experience wrangling toddlers and feeling constantly exhausted. While I don’t envy their experience, I have spent enough time babysitting and staring uncomfortably at their kids meltdowns to know that the memes we’re about to share not only reflect reality, but sprinkle a much-needed dose of humor onto the life-draining and sometimes rewarding experience of parenting.