Best reason to have kids?

Before the Christmas and New Year's holidays, a friend of mine posted on social media about how there could be wrong reason to have kids. This year, 2019, is the year I turn 30 and as expected for people my age, people are already asking when we plan to get married or some other thing like that. My parents don't pressure me to get married or have kids though but I know of friends who have complained of parents telling them to have kids.

A common reason that I hear is given to them is, "You need someone to take care of you when you get old." This was the exact reason that my friend on social media said was not a good reason to have kids. Something like it's pre-destining them to be in a life of servitude. The base premise was that one shouldn't have children out of selfish reasons.

This got me to reflecting if people often have "correct" motivations for having kids. Many (actually, most) of the reasons to have kids can effectively boil down to a selfish reason. Self-fulfillment can actually be misconstrued as a selfish reason. The only time I thought of a reason which wasn't selfish was if the couple has a child by accident (out of wedlock) and I'd find myself in a rough place in trying to say that that's a good reason to have kids.

There's one truth that is often forgotten in today's world. When talking about children, our rational minds often go to the difficulty in raising children and the burden it puts on the parents. However, almost every parent will say that having children is one of the best things to ever happen to them. Undoubtedly, you'll get a number (maybe a large number in the Philippines) say they would've rather had less kids than they did but ask them to choose which kid they would get rid of and I'd be hard pressed to find a parent who'd choose which kid to lose. If you are able to find one, however, then you know you are in the presence of a truly horrible person.

There may be no perfect reason to have a child that can't be shot down by some form of "selfish reason". Some friends of mine have even gone so far as to saying they won't be having children for reasons like, "reducing their carbon footprint," or "I don't want my child to live with (insert genetic disease here)." These reasons sound noble at first but I say they're robbing themselves of the joy of bringing a child into the world and raising them.

They may not be perfect parents (and who are?) but as long as both parents put the child's needs and take care of him/her, they'd be considered decent parents. The reasoning mentioned earlier also doesn't take into consideration that people's minds change through time. A couple may want children to take care of them when they're old but those things change when a child become older and can think for themselves.

I think that if everyone needs to be 100% fully ready to have a child, none of use would probably be born.

Just something to think about.