I know that this is supposed to be the family section of your favorite blog or news site, but bear with me while I explore in this article a subject that can be controversial: why should we have children?
It’s a nonsensical question to many, almost like asking, why bother living? But popular or not, it is one deserving of a thoughtful response. After all, it is arguable that life is about procreation. Observing the world around us, we see that the sole purpose of non-human living things is to simply bring forth the next generation.
Much effort is involved, and it can be all unquestionably devoted to living long enough to pass on one’s genes. This is basically the point of life for many. But should the same be true for human beings? I’m not asking whether it is – it undoubtedly is – but should it?
Several cultures harbor the humorous stereotype of aging parents nagging their children to “settle down” and beget kids of their own. And very few question the imperative, except on practical grounds of finances and the like. But the philosophically minded have long puzzled over this incessant demand, not only of parents but of society; you are not whole or fully mature until you have taken on the responsibility of bearing children.
Why is this? I don’t mean from a biological perspective – the sexual urge is present even in the most demure of us. But why is it so psychologically important for people to have children? It’s not merely sex, because it only takes sex to conceive, and of course one could use other means of begetting children of one’s or simply adopt those of others and make them one’s own.
But why the psychological importance attached to all this? Even in individuals who recognize the Sisyphean absurdity involved, a sense of lack may still pervade a deliberately empty nest.
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