Do you want to have children?

[dylan's alias]

My wife and I just had our second child on Thursday. We both knew that we wanted kids and are very happy with our choice.

As for the "I don't like babies" crowd, I was completely with you. I thought I would like being a dad for older kids but I never had any interest in other people's babies. I still don't. Except for my own, babies are cute for a minute, then it passes. I'm still surprised at how much I liked being a dad for a newborn, and it just keeps getting better (my oldest is 2 years old).

My life is so completely different that it is almost unrecognizable, but I wouldn't want to go back. If you never have kids, then you really won't know what you are missing. I don't mean that in a negative way. You just won't know, because there is no other experience that can compare to or can prepare you for being a parent.

The benefits of having kids are pretty limited if you want to tally them up. You can come up with many better reasons not to have them. My parents have some friends that don't have kids and as they get older, they are starting to feel like something is missing. Watching your friends kids grow up, graduate, get married and have grandkids seems like it can become a lonely proposition.

[Kimbell175113]

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If you never have kids, then you really won't know what you are missing. I don't mean that in a negative way. You just won't know, because there is no other experience that can compare to or can prepare you for being a parent.


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Yeah, but you'll never know what it would have been like had you not had kids. I'm just saying, both sides make choices and will never fully understand the other.

I do have that desire to have children. Can't explain it, but there it is, and I'll have a few someday. But I never want to convince others who don't feel that way that they are wrong or that they just have to do it anyway and their minds will change. That seems really weird to me.

[Henry17]

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I do have that desire to have children. Can't explain it, but there it is, and I'll have a few someday. But I never want to convince others who don't feel that way that they are wrong or that they just have to do it anyway and their minds will change. That seems really weird to me.

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I don't want children but I agree that it should be a personal choice. I was surprised to find that there is actually a pretty militant anti-having children movement.