I know a lot of people who have spent their entire lives with the sole purpose of making their kids happy. They never did anything for themselves. Never took any holidays or days off.
Just so that they could provide good education to their children.
And their children! Grew up to be horrible people.
Always complaining. Always holding their parents responsible for their failures.
These kids would usually hang around in a bad company. And would not even try to make their life better.
Also, I have seen people who had nothing. Couldn't even give proper education to their kids. Neither opportunities nor any handouts. And they grew up to be most grateful to their parents.
Always thanking them for the values they provided. For their love and support.
When I was a kid, and even till the last few years, I used to question why poor people have kids. Why?
When they could not raise them properly. They don't have enough resources to survive on their own. Most of them could never provide their children proper education, or any opportunity to grow in life.
So, why would they want to bring another human in this world only to suffer.
Why poor and war torn countries should continue to have kids. When they know that there is no future in their country.
I used to believe that only rich people should have kids. The people who have sorted their money problems should have kids.
But this belief also felt apart. When I looked closely at the life of some of spoiled rich kids life.
So, this question was going on in my mind for a long time.
Then after some soul searching, a lot of reading and asking questions. I realized, that the external factors does not matter at all.
It does not matter whether you have enough money to raise your kids or not. Because you do not know everything about your future.
Poor people can turn their life around. There are more than enough anecdotes of that.
Rich people could lose everything. Their business. Their money. Their status. All of it could end one day.
And life would be really difficult if you were once rich and now poor( I have gone through it, and still going). You will get frustrated each day.
It doesn't matter if the conditions of your country are bad. You could get an opportunity to move on to a different country. Or policies of your country could change.
I imagine, life would be really difficult for my grandfather and great grandfather. India was under british rule. After Independence, half a dozen wars were fought with neighbour countries. Poverty. Famine, economic failures and no one knows how many more problems they faced during their time.
Still, they got through it. If they had lost hope, and asked themselves, what good is having kids in this messed up world, I would not be around writing this post today.
I think the only factor that matters while deciding to have kids or not is asking yourself would you want to be with your better half for the rest of your life. And go through thick and thin. Would you want an opportunity to raise better humans in this world.
I think people should not have kids when their life is too messed up. And they want kids for the society. For the social pressure of being normal. To belong.
Or to save their marriage. Or just to pass on their lineage/properties. When they are always busy making more money.
Usually, these are cases when people don't care much. And they end up raising messed up people.
If you are sure that you can raise good humans, that's the only question that should matter.