Why we decided to have a baby

The other day, Medium showed me an article by Sean Kernan where he talked about his desire to never have kids.

I’m a few years older than him and became a dad for the first time a couple of years after his present age. With only that as my qualifications, I thought I would explain why having a kid was the right decision for me.

Usual caveats apply — Sean and my life stories and imperatives are not the same.

Without further waffling, here are my reasons for having a bebe.

There’s the sci-fi aspect of it

Let me get the most frivolous sounding reason out of the way first.

A few years ago, I read an analysis which said that given our present understanding of physics and the cosmos, the only feasible way for us to see other stars and planets would be to send spacecraft with people out into the universe. That spacecraft would be their home with the older generations of people having kids, training them on the mission, again and again until they reached the target planet.

Now, what if Earth is one such spacecraft? I understand that Earth is actually a planet orbiting the Sun, not a spacecraft but the concept is similar — generations of people guided by an intrinsic or extrinsic drive to achieve some end goal which we have forgotten.

Even if I can’t be there at the Big Reveal myself, I would love for some future progeny of mine to be there. She might be a drooling idiot…