Is the husband, the 2.1 kids and the white picket fence all it is cracked up to be? Every woman dreams of Prince Charming and happily ever after from an early age. Indeed, many woman invest the majority of their time, effort and cash searching for that perfect soul mate. If all this fails to unearth Prince Charming, many women marry the first man they can find who will masquerade as Prince Charming and provide the house and kids because they are sure this is the path to ultimate fulfillment. But how fabulous is the fantasy package of Prince Charming, royal juniors and the perfect little starter castle really? Lets take a look.

Lets start with Prince Charming. Well lets be honest, Prince Charming does not really exist. Men masquerade as Prince Charming for the first bit, until you move into together and such. You know the honey moon stage. Then you will find out a terrible truth. Men, like women, are simply humans with flaws. After a while they may forget to open doors for you, buy you flowers or tell you that you are extremely fabulous. Not to mention men get sick and there is not a man alive that handles sickness well. Instead they revert to miserable replicas of three year olds. Additionally, they produce oodles of laundry and dishes and they leave toilet seats up. All very un-happily ever after.

Then there are the royal juniors or royal something rathers anyways. Kids are a lot of work. Don’t believe anyone who tells you differently. People who say otherwise are either insane, have no idea what they are talking about or want to be grandparents. Babies cry and they eat and they sleep and they always cry at the most inopportune times-like adult sleep time. Then babies grow and they learn the fabulous word "no". "No" is not good for you. Then they get bigger and stronger and smarter and it becomes almost impossible to make them do what you want. You can try to make a five year old who knows how to buckle and unbuckle his seatbelt stay put so you can get home from the store safely but I think you will fail. Personally, I have spent over an hour in a car waiting for my lovely boy to fold before escaping the Zellers’ parking lot. Good luck. With children you are never finished. They need food, beverages and clothing in alarmingly large amounts and you, yes you, all the time. Is this your version of happily ever after?

Onto that starter castle. Of course, won’t it be fabulous to own a home of your own, to no longer rent? Ha! You are aware this means its yours for better or worse right? Ever heard of winterizing? Or lets just consider cleaning, repair and upkeep. The list is endless. When that toilet gets plugged it is no longer your landlord’s problem, it is your problem. Have fun. Its like renting except everything is now your responsibility. And with house prices on the rise-well its even more expensive than renting. Essentially, you are paying more to be on the fast track to a "Ms. Fix It" degree learning trial by fire. Happily ever after? I think not.

You might think after reading this I am a bitter, single divorcee. I’m not. Actually I am a happily engaged stepmother of one living common law in that house with white picket fence, well actually it is a brown fence, but same difference. I am not bitter, just realistic. I just wanted to point out that it may not be the fantasy package you are expecting. It is hard. Some days you might think you will go crazy or you may just want to quit being a grown up. But in the end, for better or worse, Prince Charming, the royal juniors and that starter castle are all yours. So it’s not all bad. But please don’t settle. Don’t marry the first Tom, Dick or Harry you meet because it is time and you think this is the answer to all your prayers. The husband, the 2.1 kids and the white picket fence is not the path to ultimate fulfilment. In fact it is unlikely to fulfil you at all, unless you were with "Mr. Right" in the first place.