things-we-are-glad-we-have-done vs. things-we-would-choose-to-do-at-the-time-if-we had-an-unfettered-choice

from Slate:

We take our daughter to the violin lesson on Saturday morning when we want to sleep in because if we don't do it, no one else will. This is true of some very large proportion of the things that good parents do for their children. Good neighbors see to it that their hungry neighbors are fed for the same reason--if they don't do it, nobody else will. If someone else will, they are inclined to let that someone else do it.