5 Humanist Reasons to Have Kids

I recently was perusing an online discussion board of currently expecting mothers.  A woman asked other moms to explain why they wanted to have children if it involved so much financial, emotional, and personal sacrifice.  The most popular answers were: "I got pregnant on accident," "my biological urges," "it just felt like the next step," and "it's my ticket to immortality."   Needless to say, reading these posts did not leave me with much hope for the human race.  I was not expecting eloquence and I was certainly not expecting "Christian" answers on a secular website.  I did, however, hope to hear some good old-fashioned humanist reasons like these:  (I've put my secret Catholic backing for these answers in italics afterwards so you don't have to read them if you're not interested.)

• Human life is a mysterious, sad, but ultimately beautiful thing.  Life itself is a gift that you give to your children by bringing them into the world. To be a breathing, thinking, feeling human person is a worthwhile thing.  (Humans are an amazing miracle, the uniting of body and soul.  God calls human life good, and we are a reflection, albeit a crooked one, of the Divine.  To make a person is to participate in the creation of a life, a soul.  We are told to "be fruitful and multiply", because God thinks humans are worth having.)
• A child is the most beautiful gift you can give to the world.  Even if your child never grew up, children themselves in their innocence and wonder are one of the things that make life worth living.  They remind us of the important things in life.  And if you raise your child well, you are giving a mind, a heart, and a set of hands to help make the world a better place.  It is your chance to leave a legacy in the world, perhaps even someone who changes it.  (Not only do children bless others, they delight the Creator.  We are called to be like children in our faith.  They also are a soul to praise God and glorify him in heaven.  Every child is a potential saint, in the sense of a citizen of heaven and in the sense of an example of faith, a gift to the world and to God.)
• Two people who truly love each other selflessly find that their love naturally overflows itself into creation.  The more they love each other, the more love they have to give.  Thus, they wish to share that love by making a new life to love together.  A family is a circle of love, which continually increases, rather than diminishes as it expands.  (Human love is in this way an image of divine love, the Spirit eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.  God's love overflowed in this way when He made humanity.  We are made to be in fellowship with each other, in a family, as the Trinity is continually in fellowship.  Love is meant to seek out more love.  Marriage is meant to make families.)
• Being a parent makes you a better person.  When you have to spend your time catering to someone else's needs, someone who cannot take care of themselves, you must become more patient, more selfless, and more focused on others.  Motherhood and fatherhood are the ultimate character building exercise.  To be a good parent you must give of yourself constantly.  You will, of course, make mistakes, but, hopefully, you will learn from them how to be the parent you want your children to have.  (Parenting is one of the surest ways to self-denial, self-sacrifice, charity, and a whole boatload of virtues we are meant to pursue as Christians.  God gives us children to help us get to heaven.  What else so effectively drives you to prayer, to re-evaluating your priorities, to an awareness of your own faults, to mending your ways, and to loving unconditionally?)
• Just look at these pictures, how could you not want one?

Today is: The Feast of St. Lucy
Finn is: 17 months old tomorrow
Mama is reading: Tinkers by Paul Harding
Littlest One is: due in 2 MONTHS