Well, we're not losing every other baby to childbirth complications, diseases and malnourishment anymore, like in the Middle Ages. And sons aren't tending the family farm or business as often as they used to until a few generations ago. This has long since spelt the end of large families.
However this doesn't mean having kids is no longer a biological, or social imperative. Leaving our valuable (and less valuable) genes for posterity is the only way we can survive, as a species.
Plus, to most at least, having kids is not just a burden and a responsibility, it's a joy, a source of pride and satisfaction. Why have I yet to hear a single dad (or mom!) saying that becoming a parent was the best and most beautiful things to happen in their lives?
I know it might sound cheesy and doesn't go down well with the cynical attitude of some of the posters here but, sure...let a man have fun while young. Eventually, at least in most of us, the desire for paternity will grow and, with the right kind of woman, one or two children will become reality.
Of course I agree with your earlier post, that desire for paternity tends to fade away as age progresses and one settles into a different, more solitary and self-centered routine. Nothing wrong with that. However I wouldn't go as far as saying that wanting kids is "selfish" when it is, by all intents and purposes, the exact opposite.
That's a different issue...too many kids in a family that can't support each and every of them and give them the opportunities they deserve, that's a problem. I wrote in an earlier post what I think about the situation in the Philippines (and by extension India and the few demographically exploding countries left on Earth). It's a mix of lazyness (no contraception) and the misplaced belief that more kids means more opportunities that one or two of them will be successful and help the (extended) family.yick wrote: ↑August 30th, 2020, 7:09 pmIt's a selfish desicion in most cases. Mediocre people raising kids to be mediocre, at least I have the self-reflection not to burden this planet with my offspring, the last thing this planet needs is one more person because it comes from my loins. The Chinese, the Filipinos, many countries in Africa, India - none of them are stopping anytime soon in producing billions of useless human garbage without an original thought between them, who have no use to anyone but to take up more of the world's resources (as well as being violent, dishonest, greedy, stupid, selfish etc - just basically of no use to anyone), someone has got to stop the madness of brainless reproduction - we will see out our lives without food and water shortages but 100 or 200 years into the future - this will start to become a problem as the world population gets up to 10-15 billion people on this planet and plentiful food and a fresh water supply starts to become a problem in maintaining.
I didn't mention the First World because they are managing to socially depopulate their populations, making it harder to raise kids these days - my dad raised a rather large family on one wage, impossible these days. Not many of my friends back home have kids.
Even if these kids really turned out successful and did have all the best intentions to help mom & pop, younger brothers and sisters, grandparents, cousins even, let alone their own families, on a single family...it's technically impossible with today's cost of living and definition of essentials to include the latest smartphone, flat-screen TV etc.
I agree with you that the world doesn't seem to offer a lot of incentives to have kids or large families. Depopulation is already in full swing in most of the world. Philippines and India and the few exceptions.