Just last month in a discussion about work ethics, the question about why do people have kids came up. His response was that ‘It’s alot like the people who can’t do, teach. People who cannot hack the business world have kids.’ I laughed, and said that ‘I always thought that people who could not handle a family buried themselves into their work.’
With these two ideas in the air, I wondered why people have kids. In my personal view, I have always wanted children around. When I would think about life as a single bachelor versus a family man there was no competition. Dad it is.
Taking a step back both points in the first paragraph are wrong as sweeping statements and yet probably contain a bit of truth. Clearly there are many very successful parents and single people in the world. Yet at the same time I have talked to people who have used both the above arguments to support their lifestyle. There are many reasons to have kids, some good, some bad, and some misguided.
You can read about someone refuting some comon reasons to have kids at http://www.childfreebychoice.com/a-reasons.htm
But what are the good ones? Necessarily, any logical reason is flawed. The children you will be raising might not agree with your reasons and the very reason you might have to bring a child in this world might be the reason for the greatest friction in your relationship with your child. Even most passionate reasons are flawed for the same reason. “I want my kid to grow up to be better at gymnastics than I ever was.” A truly passionate statement, but loaded with friction. What if the kid does not want to be like the parent (shock!)?
One reason that I resonated with was ‘Just because I want kids’ or ‘I would like to be a mom/dad’. It is a non-logical emotion and divorced of desire and competance in the business world. It is also a reason that does not put undue pressure on the children. After all there seems to be many things in the kids life that will add pressure, why start before the kid is even born.
Why have kids? Because I want to. Nuff said.
As it happens ALL of the superiors of my friend who began this discussion have many children.