It’s easy to just assume the position that this is entirely, 100% a question of personal choice, that each individual will make this choice with no consequences

It’s easy to just assume the position that this is entirely, 100% a question of personal choice, that each individual will make this choice with no consequences whatsoever to the environment they are in. I don’t pretend to know better and I can accept this without too much trouble. On the other hand, I wonder if there is space to discuss the possibility that raising children (whether biological or adopted) is actually a service to society and to the community that you’re a part of? If we take the above stance, from the perspective of the individual (regarding your own personal interests, your ability to save money and spend it on progressively more expensive hobbies, the freedom of movement and expression of self, adventure, etc.) it wouldn’t be so outlandish to conclude that having kids is an almost absolute net negative. It’s not surprising that people don’t want to do this; the world offers more and requires more and more from us day after day, and the perspective of suddenly losing maybe 80% or more of your free time can be quite scary. Plus of course all the inherent responsibilities involved that will take not only your actual time but also most of your mind space. As such, one might ask, why then should you have kids anyway? Sure, there’s the “love” aspect but, are we then to assume that childless adults have no need for love, or have access to less love than us parents? Is “not needing so much love” then an actual advantage in the social competition, because you can then have all the time in the world to improve yourself while parents are basically stuck in an endless loop of exhaustion and routine? I know what you’re thinking: “it was your choice” and it sure was, and that is exactly the point. I feel like there is a philosophical question/gap here about making the sacrifice of raising children (not only for the greater good, but certainly a bit for it) and being rewarded by it, somehow. If only because the opposite-being rewarded by not having kids-sounds a bit weird to me. I’ve suggested this once or twice but the response from childless adults is (obviously?) quite negative. I wonder if I am just being crazy here.