I like the preface to Bryan Caplan’s new book, Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids. He says:

I doubt that “They’ll help me out when I’m old,” has ever been a good reason to have kids. Love tends to run downhill; as an old saying ruefully observes, “One parent can care for five children, but five children cannot care for one parent.”
…
The only promising way to meet the “What’s in it for me?,” challenge is to appeal to the intrinsic or “consumption” benefits of children. … if someone asks “What’s in parenthood for me?,” you’ve got to highlight kids’ cool features: They’re ridiculously cute; they’re playful; they’ll look like you; they’ll share half your genes; it’s all part of the circle of life.

It’s an obvious point, but one often missed by budding economists (at least the undergrad econ students I see), that economics deals with ALL benefits. Read more