My daughter is only 5, yet she is an amazingly wonderful person. I'm honored just knowing her, having her in my life. My wife and I are trying to have another child. Yes they smell when they shit, but so do I. She can be annoying at times, but then so can I. But all her sweetness and loving kindness outweighs anything minor like a small tantrum (usually brief). Children are amazing because they are human beings, just learning about the world. They have yet to be fucked up like us adults. Cherish them in their innocence, while it lasts. And never forget your own childhood; never.

I don't think it's stupid to have kids, I think it's stupid for people to have a bakers dozen (look it up if you don't know the meaning of the number) when there are thousands and thousands of kids for adoption. Want to have a few of your own? Fine. Want to have your own baseball team at home? Go adopt...

i love kids ^^...( don't worry i'm not a pedo that goes around giving lollipops and tellin em to follow me ...=3=") i find them adorable...but some are so FREAKIN ANNOYING!!! LIKE THIS ONE BABY GIRL~~ ARGH I JUST WANTED TO PULL HER HAIR OUT!! >.<! I think the reason why people have kids is because, ...actually i don't know... i just like kids...X//D kids are like human pumpkins! XD

It may be hard to imagine why people want children, and I'm not sure I will ever have them myself, but pretty much all my family and friends who have kids claim it is their everything and that they wouldn't trade it for anything. It is something you probably need to experience for yourself to know.

Well, I guess it's pretty fun to see a spitting image of yourself, or the one you love growing up. It's like seeing yourself growing up, except you're in another body. LOL

There are a dozen reasons, some good, some bad, but the reality is that life is supposed to be a gift. I'm just glad to be alive, and I wish those who are having hard times their happiness or comfort.

because its fun to have a family... there wouldn't be much life in a house if there's no children on it!

so the world doesnt end

little human pets

unless a civilization has 2.5 kids per family(average obviously ur not gonna have 1/2 a child lulz) they don't grow. From an economic standpoint having kids greatly helps your economy, because they have needs which makes people buy. The only thing they negatively effect is your wallet, but if you live within your means (buy only what you need) then having a family would be easy. I'm not a father but one day I hope I will be, because most men will, because when you have a child, it gives your more reason to live and care for them so you know they'll grow to be a good person. as for ruining your vajayjay, just to let you know men honestly don't care as long as you're in love. To top all this off, I'm sorry for your divorced family, but it goes to show you that people don't know what marriage is anymore.

because it is natural we want them.

People aren't stupid to be having kids. Yes, there's an over population problem, but you can't just stop having kids all together. How would the race continue? All we can do is limit ourselves to one or two kids, which due to the recession is already being put into affect. People simply can't afford to have large families any more. People have kids because they want to continue their family and share a bond with their significant other. It's a beautiful thing, not stupid.

I for, one, actually like kids. And I'd imagine there are others like me who want to raise a kid (although, I probably never will, but that's another story altogether). However, most people like the sentimental value of knowing that their child is their own flesh and blood, which is why people prefer to procreate instead of adopting. It really isn't any more complicated than that.

Many reasons . For some, parenthood represents completeness.

Just in case.

I hate these conversations.

I'd be REALLY interested to know, however, how many people, under a polygraph, would actually say they had children "to continue the human race." That, in my experience, is a little more existential a motivation than usually seem to guide the process. I'd be REALLY impressed if you could find as many as FIVE families who actually sat down and said, "the human race could go extinct someday. Let's change the course of our entire life and have a baby to make sure it doesn't." Unless you can point to this as a specific, deliberate guiding principle to the decision to reproduce, saying it as an answer to the OP's question is meaningless.

As for the 12e693875 people saying "because if your parents didn't, you wouldn't be here"... um, that's a teleological argument that doesn't actually answer the question. That's like saying "why do people have kids? because they did."

There are some interesting studies in the past few years that suggest that MOST people are, in fact, less happy overall after becoming parents but tend to inflate their reported happiness to have a positive image to their peers or to self-persuade. That said, the remark that populations are declining rapidly in "privileged" first-world cultures is true, but not due to the "culture of selfishness" that the poster cited; it's consistently true (ask anyone involved in international relief or even social work or family planning among the poor or underprivileged here in the first world) that EVERY culture's reproductive rate declines as it has increased access to birth control, medical technology that increases the likelihood of children surviving to adulthood, sexual education, and increased rights for women. (I direct you to the UN and UNESCO's stats on world population growth and infant mortality).

This is all pointless of me to say, though, and throwing all these facts out isn't going to change anyone's mind because this is, as someone said, a useless argument. Nothing is more powerful than the human need to defend the outcomes of their choices, the results of their actions, or the consequences of their belief system. As for me, I can't have children because of a congenital defect, but I really wish I could have, because I generally enjoy the hell out of children and caring for them. But I've also known literally hundreds of people that didn't want the kids they had or really shouldn't have had them, so I don't go around thinking there's some nobility or sense behind the act.