u/Bluejay500

Yup this comment should be higher. You get what you pay for. Also watching very young children for free is back breaking, exhausting work and I'm frankly team "do what works for you" if you're in this situation (as long as what works is not a safety issue, unclear from OP because they dont mention the age of the child. You cannot take your eye off a 14 mo but if it's a 4 month old barely moving or a 4year old and they looked away for a sec it's way more understandable) I am open to watching my children's kids regularly if they want that, but I would absolutely make sure they understood that it's super hard work and that I'm not going to do it if there's tons of rules that make it harder. There's got to be a tradeoff. 

Um yeah this is definitely a thing. Surprised by the comments. Everyone saying independent play, well sure if the kids are older than preschool age. But younger kiddos will often desperately glom onto the one non-smartphone parent actively engaged at the park. I don't even mean playing per se, but even just reacting like saying "wow look at that pinecone, and thank you for bringing me that rock" when kiddo is exploring. One of my first outings postpartum with just my older kiddo (then 2 years old) after having child #2was nearly ruined by an aggressive 4 year old whose parent was on the phonewho wanted me to play with her. I could've cried (hormones and all) because I was so desperate to get that 1:1 time with my kiddo.

I think all the comments prove your point. Most people are saying it's been easier (on them) to just have 1.  Easier to travel, easier to have alone time/hobbies, easier to parent. Etc. Parenting is hard and so is doing it right and well.  Parental temperament and personality plays a big role. I personally have more than 1 but I'm someone who doesn't need a lot of alone time. I think historically lots of people who would've been happier as parents with just 1 or 2 kids were forced to have more so this isn't a bad development, if anything it's expanded parenthood to include more people who wouldn't necessarily choose a big family but can keep more of their lifestyle with one kid. But yeah, having more and doing a good job parenting them is objectively harder and requires less selfishness/self-orientation than a lot of these comments.