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I hope so! And we plan on it. But there are some things that even if you try 100% to be a perfect parent, you'll look back and think "Oh, I could've done that better." One thing that I won't be able to give to my kids that my parents gave to me was attention. My mom was a SAHM and she was always home when we finished school. Made us sandwiches and helped us with school projects. My dad had a very flexible job so we did a lot of traveling together as a family. Unfortunately my DH and I both have corporate 9-6 jobs with a few weeks of vacation a year. I'm trying to switch to part-time work so that I can give my kids the same level of attention and time that my parents gave us. Sigh. So hard to give up a certain lifestyle though.

Nope. My parents gave us a fantastic life. We traveled to different countries and many states, we had everything we needed and lived in a great area. They struggled at times but we never knew. We are going to offer our lo everything we can but it still won't be as great as what I had growing up.

Financially speaking, I hope so... but most likely not. I was raised in a rural area and my parents made pretty good money for where we lived. We didn't live a charmed life, but we never really wanted for anything. They paid for my college and paid for all of my living expenses until I graduated from graduate school. Unfortunately, we live in a higher cost area (and probably always will), and sometimes it seems like we'll never be able to take those great family vacations that I remember from my childhood, and the thought of putting 2-3 kids through college seems impossible at this point.

But, my parents divorced when I was 9 and we went through some very rough times, emotionally... I learned so much from that about what *not* to do as a parent, so I am determined to provide a better environment during their middle/high school years than my siblings and I had to endure.

It's so difficult to compare the two. I grew up with wonderful loving parents but we had a very modest blue collar life. They didn't always get to spend as much time with us as they or we wanted to because they were working.

I am in a very favorable financial situation and I don't work so those are the biggest differences. So while I guess I can give them more I still feel like I got a lot as a kid.

Not 100% sure if it will be better but I think it will be equivalent or better, no worse.

We hope we will. At the moment, we will. I guess I'll have to see what curve balls life will throw at us.

I hope so! We are both college educated, so I feel that it gives us the ability to keep higher paying jobs. We are also good about saving and not having debt. Not having money stress will hopefully help LO be happy growing up. DH and I also have a MUCH healthier relationship than my parents, so LO will also hopefully grow up in a very happy home with two very involved parents if things continue like they are now.

It is really hard to gauge. I had a great upbringing. I have five siblings and two parents who love each other immensely. We weren't rich by any means and sadly that meant I couldn't do as much, like I really wanted to take dance, volleyball and tennis but my parents couldn't afford to put us all in sports/extra curricular activities - so that was hard. Having a bigger family too meant little space/privacy in our small-ish house. That is something I'm hoping to provide for my family.
But other than those small nearly-meaningless things, I have no complaints about my childhood. My parents were and still are fantastic.

I think the biggest differences I hope to make is that we can take a yearly family vacation, because we never could afford to when I was a kid.

I also hope to be able to provide our son with a great education. I was homeschooled but wanted the option of something else since I learn better in a classroom environment. I want to be able to afford a nice school, like Montessori, if I decide not to homeschool my LO.

Otherwise, my parents are my role models. I hope to create the same happy, loving and secure environment that my parents made for me.

I think it will be comparable. Since I'm not planning on having six kids like my parents, I may be able to provide my LO some things that my parents couldn't. But I would never say that just because we may have more money, we will be raising our LO better. I think money has little to do with it. It obviously plays a part, but my favorite childhood memories have nothing to do with the amount of money we had.

Probably not. My parents gave me a really great childhood! They were a lot more established in their careers when they had kids than DH and I are. But at least at this point I'm able to spend a lot more time with LO as a SAHM than my mom was able to spend with me. Hopefully in the end it will even out.

I think so. We plan to have 3 max vs. my family's 5 kids and both of us will work full time so we'll be able to provide more, pay for college and take vacations and things. BUT, the flipside is that my mom only worked PT so she was available more. DH is a teacher so at least summers will be good for them.
I can already tell you that we own a better house than I grew up in so we're off to a good start.