Although I appreciate the author's sentiment, and would probably appreciate the encouragement on those bases if I was in a more stable circumstance or consideri

Although I appreciate the author's sentiment, and would probably appreciate the encouragement on those bases if I was in a more stable circumstance or considering having a kid at all, it's hard to escape the sense that in many cases we're not being passed a torch—from broader society or our own relatives—but rather a flickering ember that we're to attempt to re-ignite at 11pm while camping in the Pacific Northwest. If you're feeling squeezed, it's hard to rationalize squeezing one out. If you didn't grow up with a stable family life and don't see a reliable income on the horizon, I don't know how adding a child would compute. But... that's not everyone, not by a mile, and maybe people who are on the fence could use the reflections of a new parent like this.