Having Children Debate

This cluster revolves around debates on whether to have children, emphasizing that it's an optional choice rather than a default or sacrifice, with discussions on selfishness, cultural pressures, regret, and personal freedom.

📉 Falling 0.2x Politics & Society
4,966
Comments
20
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#9858
Topic ID

Activity Over Time

2007
6
2008
18
2009
34
2010
46
2011
64
2012
142
2013
132
2014
132
2015
159
2016
235
2017
271
2018
409
2019
376
2020
434
2021
447
2022
697
2023
600
2024
451
2025
290
2026
23

Keywords

ycombinator.com ICE children kids having kids selfish having children parents choice child divorce regret

Sample Comments

agent008t Oct 24, 2022 View on HN

Why have a child? It is completely optional.

baddox Sep 30, 2014 View on HN

Not everyone has children or intends to have children.

qubex Jul 30, 2018 View on HN

Another reason to not want kids.

sneak Aug 16, 2023 View on HN

Not having kids isn't a sacrifice. Not having kids is the default. Children, just like smoking or drug addiction (or driving ICE cars), are opt-in.

Arisaka1 Mar 3, 2025 View on HN

I disagree with the premise that one should make children for the sake of filling a void.

apwell23 Feb 5, 2024 View on HN

removing choice. having kids is not something ppl actively choose in most cultures. Its just a part of life.

ginko Jul 10, 2016 View on HN

Well, it's not as if you can just choose to have kids.

Teever Oct 1, 2023 View on HN

The people who aren't going to have kids in any circumstance don't matter.

mnicole Dec 13, 2012 View on HN

Anyone can choose not to have kids for whatever reason they please (and it's never selfish to do so), I was just trying to explain why this may be the case for the segment of people he was referring to.

_hzw Feb 5, 2024 View on HN

It's interesting to note that you consider having children a selfish choice, because in some cultures, not having children is considered selfish.