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My parents were divorced when I was a young teenager, and I was raised by a single mother after that. So, I understand the difficulties that families have. I understand single parenting.

The one thing about being a parent is the ability to be selfless: To give up the things you want and need for the benefit of someone else.

I'm not a parent, but it seems to me the nature of parenting is contingent, full of unexpected challenges - which is one of the wonderful and amazing things about it.

With the amount of money I have, it's difficult raising children the way I was raised.

Being a parent gives you historical perspective. You have thoughts about how you fit into a larger generational drama - those who came before and those who will come after.

Becoming a parent gives you access to a whole world of feeling. It gives you a much stronger sense of life and death: becoming a father made me realise my own mortality.

In 2014, having children is complicated and daunting and fraught - as much as it's always been, but now we're talking about it. And the more we talk about it, the more of us will realize that we're not going through it alone. Far from it.

I was an unhappy child, and that puts me off having a child of my own.

Being a parent means my time use has to be a bit more focused, but it also gives me a new non-writing dimension to my life, which is a healthy thing. I can't wander along for weeks with an idea drifting through my head - I have someone who will drag me back into life, and that's a good thing.