“What are really the reasons behind why people want children?” Why do people
want children? This question may seem a bit trivial, but when you take into
affect the millions of people that have children each day the question quickly
takes on a new light. This is not just merely a personal question that affects
only a few individuals, it is much larger than that because it affects and
dictates the whole human population. This issue clearly becomes more important
when this is taken into account. The question of why people want children is
well exemplified in Bernard R. Berelson’s essay “The Value Of Children: A
Taxonomical Essay.” Berelson examines all the major reasons that people would
want to have children one-by-one. Berelson opens with the first reason of
biological. He asks questions like, “do people innately want children for some
built-in reason of physiology? Is there anything to maternal instinct, or
parental instinct? Or is biology satisfied with the sex instinct as the way to
assure continuity”(220)? Berelson tries to answer these questions by comparing
babies to adults and also the reaction that adults have to babies. Berelson
states the fact that babies look absolutely different from adults. They have big
heads, large foreheads, eyes almost in the center of their head because of their
large forehead, and they are very fat compared to adults. This is why Berelson
believes that this “babyishness” triggers something inside of man that
causes him to want to protect and care for the baby. When social traditions
dictate the number of children a family has this can be seen as the cultural
influence of having children. In most cultures even the number of children one
has is determined by the society. These social normalities can determine whether
or not a family has a very small amount to a very large amount. Having children
in order to gain power is the political side to having children. Berelson states
all the political reasons very well when he says, “There are political units
for whom collective childbearing is or has been explicitly encouraged as a
demographic duty-countries concerned with national glory or competitive
political position; governments concerned with the supply of workers and
soldiers; churches concerned with propagation of the faith or their relative
strength; ethnic minorities concerned with their political power; linguistic
communities competing for position; clans and tribes concerned over their
relative status within a larger setting”(221). This statement that Berelson
makes clearly emphasizes all the political reasons for having children. Of
course, how can one forget that there are economic reasons for having or not
having children? Whether you have children or do not it is obvious that they are
definitely a very financial decision. In societies like ours, as Berelson points
out, having children is a very costly endeavor. Berelson speaks the truth about
what parents are really thinking before having a child when he says, “before
conception: another child or a trip to Europe; a birth deferred in favor of a
new car, the nth child requiring more expenditure on education or
housing”(222). These thoughts run through just about all perspective parents
before the decision is made to have children. There is good side to the economic
reason for the poor. The poor can use their children to work, hunt, help take
care of the home and other children, in some societies if one is a female she
can get a dowry for an arranged marriage, and finally for support when the
parents grow older and need it. Though as Berelson states, “both societies and
families tend to choose standard of living over number of children when the
opportunity presents itself”(222). There is always the reason of family or as
Berelson puts it “Familial”. The reasons of familial are to extend a family
name, to try to please the ancestors, and to enable proper religious ceremonies
for some cultures. The family bond can also be used to help or hold a marriage
together. A family gives one a sense of security, not only the child but also
the parents. Berelson makes a sometimes less than obvious statement when he
says, “Children need family, but the family seems also to need
children”(223). The last subject that Berelson goes into is the personal
reasons for wanting children. This has a variety of sub-topics under it:
personal power, personal competence, personal status, personal extension,
personal experience, and personal pleasure. Berelson believes that some people
may what children so that they may have personal power or an authority over a
person like non-other they will ever exercise like throughout their life. He
also points out that raising children demonstrates personal competence. In this
case no mater what education or social ranking a person has they can prove
themselves to be a competent adult by raising children. Also, one can have very
many children which in some cases, like the poor, children are a type of wealth.
Even though the rich may be blessed with money the poor can be blessed with the
wealth of children. Others may have children as a personal extension of
themselves or a way to achieve immortality and sometimes parents try to do what
they couldn’t through their children. Berelson acknowledges the fact that some
people simple do it for personal experience. This challenge to raise a child can
be one of the most rewarding experiences in ones life. Berelson puts it best
when he says, “Last, but one hopes not least, in the list of reasons for
wanting children is the altruistic pleasure of having them, caring for them,
watching them grow, shaping them, being with them, enjoying them”(225). This
reason Berelson has just described is the one reason that all most all people
would agree why people would want children, love. The question of why people
want children is clearly illustrated in Bernard R. Berelson’s essay “The
Value Of Children: A Taxonomical Essay.” Berelson’s essay shows the reader a
lot of good reasons why people would want children. Some of these reasons may be
true some may not. It all depends on the person, society, religion, and even the
place that one lives. In my personal experience a lot of what Berelson says is
true. I believe however, that all of the personal reasons are more influential
than all the other categories that Berelson presents. Also, among all the
personal reasons I would have to say that personal extension, personal
experience, and personal pleasure are in my view the things that most influence
one to have children. When you take into account all the topics of this whole
essay Berelson has really made you think in detail about why you yourself had
child(ren) or why you would want to. I think this was really Berelson’s
objective and I think he accomplishes it very well.