Since I was a child I've had the dream of getting married and starting a family. However, in the last 5 years I've spent a lot of time looking after other people's children, and I think it might have scared me off!

I worked at a preschool, and I also worked as a live-in nanny for two years, taking care of a toddler and later on a baby for 10 hours a day, five days a week. And that's just the beginning.

Thinking of having kids just makes me shudder now, where it used to be this beautiful dream. Sometimes I feel like it requires a certain amount of naivety to have kids. If all women spent as much time taking care of children as I did, many might avoid it. Any advice on how to cope with these feelings? I still want marriage and a family, but it doesn't look as rosy as it used to.