Why do people have/want children - Essay Example

Why Do People Have/Want Children? The continuity of human race is driven by human reproduction.In other words, generational progress from time to time is driven by bearing children. As much as people bear children and drive the growth and development of the human race, there are different reasons why people have/want children. These reasons are spread across cultural, social, economic, and political contexts. The three reasons for having/wanting children considered in this paper include biological, familial, and personal pleasure.

People have/want children because they feel they have a biological role to play. This perspective is backed up by Bernard Berelson in his essay, The Value of Children: A Taxonomical Essay. Berelson shows that people want to bear and take care of babies by asking the following questions: “Do people innately want children for some built-in reason of physiology? Is there anything to maternal instinct, or parental instinct? Or is biology satisfied with the sex instinct as the way to assure continuity?” (220). Wanting and having children is an in-born thing in people.

The familial reason of having/wanting children is informed by the need to extend family size and name. Children in the family set up also strengthen family bonds, thus creating a sense of security and responsibility. To support this, Berelson states, “Children need family, but the family seems also to need children” (223). Finally, the personal pleasure reason for having/wanting children is driven by the need to satisfy oneself. People derive personal comfort from wanting/having children, and Berelson supports this by saying, “In the list of reasons for wanting children is the altruistic pleasure of having them, caring for them, watching them grow, shaping them, being with them, enjoying them” (225).