Yeah, I have four kids, and I'll be the first to tell you that it's not a logical, rational decision; it's an emotional, probably hormonal, one. For people like

Yeah, I have four kids, and I'll be the first to tell you that it's not a logical, rational decision; it's an emotional, probably hormonal, one. For people like us (the HN crowd, in general) who are drawn to computers, math, logic, etc. and pride ourselves on it, I think that can be tough to understand and accept. It took me a while. With no intent to disparage women, I think the "baby crazies" are very real. My wife and I got married in our early twenties, enjoyed a few child-free years, but then they hit hard. In her mid-twenties, it became very clear that there was no way my wife would be happy if we didn't have kids, and ROI had nothing to do with it. Even when there might have been a positive ROI for having kids, I'm pretty sure that nobody looked at it primarily in that way.