Why does anyone have children in the first place?

If, statistically and on average, parents are no happier, and many are less happy, then those without childbirth, then what are all these baby showers about?

Why Have Children - Funniest Videos

Why do we have such a rosy view about parenthood and childbirth? One possible explanation for this, according to Daniel Gilbert (2006), is that the belief that “children bring happiness” transmits itself much more successfully from generation to generation than the belief that “children bring misery.”

The phenomenon, which Gilbert says is a “super-replicator,” can be explained further by the fact that people who believe that there is no joy in parenthood – and who thus stop having them — are unlikely to be able to pass on their belief much further beyond their own generation.

It is a little bit like Darwin’s theory of the survival of the fittest – Childbirth. Only the belief that has the best chance of transmission — even if it is a faulty one — will be passed on.

Sharing is caring
Recommended Posts

Start typing and press Enter to search