I really like Oprah's take on this issue. She admits to occasionally seeing a cute little baby (and I agree with her that infants can be cute, although toddlers make me wish to be somewhere, anywhere else, immediately!) and having a "baby pang". She added "I wait a second, and then it passes, and I'm back to being rational ol' me" (go, Oprah!). However, she said that sometime she sees friends who own horses, and has a "horse pang", but then realizes that, even though she likes horses, that she's not willing to make the sacrifices necessary to make them possible in her life (actually O's welathy enough to have whatever she wants and pay others to do the upkeep, but she tries to keep it folksy, and usually succeeds). Talking with a friend of mine, she admited to having a "Porsche pang" occasionally, but she'd really rather stay with her lower-stress job than having to make enough $ to truly be able to afford a Porsche.
It's all about trade-offs, it seems. It's just that most people who are parents, as well as most of the media, seem to hold the opinion that kids are the only thing which are somehow immune to trade-offs. That's why the Johnson's baby oil ads, for instance, always show a perfect infant, smiling and bathed in golden light --- NEVER a squalling, red-faced, colic-ridden wretch of a baby in its terminally-sleep-deprived mother's arms.
If we as a nation or as a planet were actually on the brink of de-population, I could see the government and/or the media promoting the idea of parenthood. But we're not there --- we've got the opposite problem (overpopulation). I've said it before, and I'll say it again --- any product that was actually *that* good wouldn't need such excellent, constant PR! Don't buy the hype!
Elise
