Raising a child is a lot more than "spwaning offspring." You're obviously not a parent and have no appreciation for what your parents have done for you.

In the meantime keep playing halo and wanking to online porn.

Insisting that only parents can have opinions on the subject of kids is a bit odd. I would bet that you have an opinion on nuclear power, despite never having built a reactor in your back yard.

Society pays quite a lot towards the cost of children as well (depending on where you are). For example here roughly 10% of income is taxed to pay for universal healthcare, of which a large chunk goes to subsidised and free care for children. If society is picking up part of the bills it should get part of the credit.

(And I don't play Halo, nor am I single. I'm not even that young. Ad hominem is the lowest form of argument.)

I don't know, I think kids are one of those things that change your mind about a lot of things, when you actually have them.

It's funny hearing non-parents views sometimes, as they bear little relation to how things really go in practice.

Imagine taking relationship advice from someone who has never had a girlfriend. Sure, they can have an opinion, but I'm not likely to take much notice of it.

I wouldn't go to a non-parent for advice on how to quiet a toddler or get your kids to help clean the house. On the other hand, parents can be somewhat irrational when it comes to societal issues. Risk tolerance goes way down, particularly for "dramatic" risks like child abduction.

He isn't saying you shouldn't have an opinion, but that you won't _get_ it until you are a parent. I am not a parent, but I can understand that I DON'T know what if feels like until you are. I didn't know what love was until I had a long term girlfriend, and I didn't know what love really was until I broke up with that girl and found the right one, even though I thought I did. So I think it is reasonable to extend that to - you have no idea what it feels like to be a parent until you are one. The pool of parents is so large I don't think you can make broad generalizations, I think a lot of it has to do with the stress of paying for kids so breaking it up by class would be interesting.

Sorry to be a nerd, but that wasn't an ad hominem, it was just an insult. (it made me laugh though.)

Although, I'd value the opinion of someone who did build a reactor in their back yard in a whole different class than someone who went to a few Greenpeace rallies.

Your first sentence is accurate, the second is kind of nasty and distracts from your message:

> Raising a child is a lot more than "spwaning offspring."

which is very important. Most anyone can reproduce, but raising a child is something that takes skill and effort.

Dude, chill. Not every one who is childless plays Halo and not everyone who plays Halo is childless.

Ditto with the porn.

Judging from what you see if you walk into a Wal Mart, anyone can raise a child too. They maybe can't do a good job of it, but I'd wager they'll be just as convinced they did as you are.

There is always lots of talk 'round these parts about "how are you going to change the world?" Many people, parents included, don't realize that the simple act of raising children is loaded with this very possibility.

As mentioned below, yes, plenty of people simply spawn offspring, and that's problematic. But there are also plenty of parents who take their task very, very seriously.

Having children is easy, and obviously billions of unremarkable people do it. But raising children well is extremely difficult. It requires hard work, deep thinking, and dedication.

"...some of the best kids in every generation come from the worst homes so 'doing it right' is hardly a value added activity."

And many of the worst people in every generation come from the worst homes. Doing it right is most definitely a value-added activity.

Sadly, in some cases it is

function generation(input) { output = input - 1; generation(output); }

... particularly in cases of dysfunctional families.

So by your logic, why have a girlfriend either?

Because it's fun? Not everything you do has to be an achievement - in fact you would look pretty odd saying 'my greatest achievement was having a girlfriend'.

There isn't really anything wrong with just having fun, but the human race would be better off if people had more of a sense of perspective.