Do you desire to have children?

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

No Atlas Forum member should be allowed to reproduce. For public safety reasons.

[Oakvale]

Dear God no.

[ilikeverin]

Absolutely.  And I feel sorry for my poor future husband, who will probably be deluged with lists of baby names when I turn about 30.  (Of course, if he's marrying me, he'll likely be equally planning-oriented and legacy-obsessed, so there's that )

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

No.  Despite how tender children can be, I'm trying to cut down on red meat.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

BTW, Grumps, I like this one; keep her for a while.

No worries, young friend.  She'll be around to melt your popsicle for a few days.  

Yes, speaking of which Gramps... I'd certainly like to have children with that one.  Any more of her floating around the intarwebs? 

[© tweed]

Absolutely.  And I feel sorry for my poor future husband, who will probably be deluged with lists of baby names when I turn about 30.  (Of course, if he's marrying me, he'll likely be equally planning-oriented and legacy-obsessed, so there's that )

you're a gay?

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

BTW, Grumps, I like this one; keep her for a while.

No worries, young friend.  She'll be around to melt your popsicle for a few days.  

Yes, speaking of which Gramps... I'd certainly like to have children with that one.  Any more of her floating around the intarwebs? 

I'm not into sharing, Hokey.

[Thomas D]

I'd like to. But I don't think it's in the cards.

[Peter the Lefty]

Yep.  Though there's quite a bit of screwy stuff in my family genetically, so I have to make sure that I don't possess any of it myself.  Whatever children I do end up having will be adopted.  I imagine not until my 30's or so.

[Dave from Michigan]

I think so, maybe eventually. I'm 29 now though don't have any prospects to have children with. I would take raising children seriously though it sounds like a really hard thing to do and you can really mess a kid up if you do it wrong. Several friends and casual acquaintances have recently had children, including a good friend of mine who accidentally got his fiancee pregnant. Also several people from my church who I know are starting to have kids. My friend's fiancee's sisters have had children with some real jerks and I feel bad for those kids. Also there are only 5 men in my family who can pass on the family name if they have a son, and one of them is done having children he is over 40, so really there is only 4 were all in our mid to late 20's and one of them, my cousin is in his early 30's and just got married. That really isn't a good reason to have kids though.

[memphis]

Not for me. I'm happy to interact with the children of others for a while, but I have no interest in being in baby jail. And the world is so crazy overpopulated. It seems very irresponsible and, ultimately, a supreme act of masturbation.

[Del Tachi]

If for some reason I do decide to have children one day it will not be because I actually want them, but only because I feel like the world needs more people like myself, and children grow-up to be very similar to their parents...

[Joe Biden 2020]

No Atlas Forum member should be allowed to reproduce. For public safety reasons.

What? Do you not want miniature Bushies running around? 

I am conflicted.  Of course, I want to get married and have children, but I kinda feel my chances are dwindling as I get older.  On the other hand, if I get married and have kids that would greatly inhibit my desires to go overseas.  Although, my priorities would obviously change with the onset of husbandry and fatherhood.

[Maxwell]

No Atlas Forum member should be allowed to reproduce. For public safety reasons.

[Kitteh]

Well, when it comes to biological children, that ship has either already sailed or is about to depart for me. After this long without male hormone levels the chances of me having enough sperm to get someone pregnant are next to nil. Theoretically I could reverse this mostly within the next few years if I were to stop taking hormones for a while, but the chances of that happening are even less than of me getting someone pregnant as is .

As for adopted children, I sometimes feel a desire but almost certainly don't want to. All of the arguments people have stated against it in this thread apply to me. Seeing the way that having children has impacted my parents' lives definitely makes me not want to (my mom has been quite honest with me that she wouldn't have children if she knew at the time everything she knows now about how it would turn out). Also, I tend to believe that people shouldn't have children unless they are very certain that they want them and have thought it over quite a bit. I'd hate to put a child in the situation where I'm only taking care of them because I'm "stuck with them".

I think the biggest appeal of having kids for me is the idea of "giving my children the childhood I never had". I had a pretty sh*tty childhood with sorta bad parents, and part of me would like to have a kid so I could give them a good childhood and not make the mistakes that my parents made. I'm not sure that this is a good motivation for having kids, though (though, honestly, it's better than some of the ones people have given in this thread). What's really ironic is that I'm pretty sure this is the reason my dad wanted to have kids.

All things considered, though, I'm 95% certain I'm not going to have children at any point in my life. I'll just adopt a bunch of cats instead

[CatoMinor]

I would very much love to have 2 or 3 children eventually.

[King]

I probably should get around to having one in the next few years.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

No Atlas Forum member should be allowed to reproduce. For public safety reasons.

This too.

[Dave from Michigan]

No Atlas Forum member should be allowed to reproduce. For public safety reasons.

This too.

no I think a lot of people on this forum would be good parents better than a lot of the bad parents out there think of all the terrible parents out there. A lot of people seem to have put some thought into having children. There are too many stupid people having children and not enough good people.

[memphis]

The only members I can think of offhand who are parents:
Clarence
Gramps
Earl
Any others?

[dead0man]

The only members I can think of offhand who are parents:
Clarence
Gramps
Earl
Any others?

ahem

[King]

I think Walter has a kid.  It's been years since I've talked to him about his family life, though.

[memphis]

Apologies to deadman and WalterMitty for forgetting them.

[dead0man]

No biggy.  I don't bring 'em up much.  I've got three good kids...





four kids total, but just three good ones.


I just drove down to ATL last weekend to see the oldest graduate HS.  On the way back I did ATL to STL in 6.5 hours....un freaking believable.  For mortals that's like a 9 hour drive.  I'm happy to do it in 8 normally.  6 and a half.  No traffic 'round Nashville (or Chattanooga) at all which normally always has a bit of traffic.  Few cops.  We even stopped in Metropolis IL to take pictures with Superman.

[Хahar 🤔]

If for some reason I do decide to have children one day it will not be because I actually want them, but only because I feel like the world needs more people like myself, and children grow-up to be very similar to their parents...

Yes, the world certainly needs more people who think this way:

I don't think father should be required to pay child-support for children born out of wedlock.  Our system needs to support and encourage traditional marriages, as the best way to rear children is in a two-parent household.  Maybe if women knew that they couldn't get child support if they weren't married, they would stop sleeping around and tell their fellas to "keep it in ya pants"!

Now, if a couple divorces then child support should only have to be paid if the parents have equal custody.  I don't think a father who doesn't have custody over one or more of his children should be forced to financially support them.  That would be like me buying dog food for my neighbor's dog.