I find it funny that the OP thinks parents are boring. What a retarded and arrogant statement. I was totally fine before I had kids with the way life was at that time and I understand the foundation of your point of view, but the rest is just ignorant and moronic.
I have literally never been blocked from doing anything I wanted to do because of my kids. Not even once. Some of my wants and desires changed when I had them, but many didn't. However, now I waste far less of my time. That's really all that changed. I still get up in the morning and workout. I still go to work and have lunch with friends. I still come home and do work around the house, clean, talk to my wife, play xbox, and various other things that haven't changed at all. On the weekends, I go do something outside with friends and my kids come along, e.g. hiking, swimming, skiing, or going on day trips. I also take my kids on vacations and literally nothing is different because they're with us. I took my daughter to NYC for 6 days when she was 3 and never regretted it once. She had an amazing time and so did I. Your claim that parents can't do things is just fucking stupid.
Also, about your request for the positives, you're essentially asking everyone to prove why their choice was valid when they don't need to do that for themselves. I don't need your approval to know I made the right choice. I love every second of their lives regardless of if it's a fun moment or a moment that requires sacrifice, which, by the way, are few and far between. I still make breakfast the same way, but now I get to have hilarious conversations while I do it. The idiots who think kids are an insane amount of work like to beat the drum about how much time it takes out of your day, but the magical time suck still hasn't happened to me.
Money? Pfft. I spend way less on them than I do on myself. My last computer upgrade was more expensive than all of the food and diapers I needed for two kids for an entire year.
I don't give two shits what you want to do with your life. With that said, you seriously need to get down off of your soapbox. I had my first kid when I was 24 because I realized I was past the stupid college phase of needing validation from friends. I also had a very diverse set of interests that kept me busy 100% of the time, but having kids was something I wanted to do as well. Having them sooner rather than later has been a huge blessing because I'll have enough energy to keep up with them for their entire adolescence. You are not correct in your assessment of peoples' lives. Some of the nitpicky things you pointed out in your OP may be true, but the context is totally missing. It's not work for me to change a diaper or clean up puke. My kid needs me and a less than one minute expenditure of my time fixes the situation. You probably spend longer looking at yourself in the mirror every day than I do changing diapers.