Does anyone else watch TV shows featuring parents with incredibly complex lives and think “they probably shouldn’t have kids”?

I’m watching Halt and Catch Fire—incredible show, by the way—and one of the lead characters has a family. A wife and two kids. He’s incredibly dedicated to his career, and his wife also works and takes care of the kids. With the way they film and script the show, the kids rarely seem to be on his mind. Like an afterthought.I realize this is likely a subjective trick of perception, and you can only put so much stock into television character development, but to me it’s such a perfect parallel for our society. In so many ways, kids are a box you check. In the media, most portrayals of adults are as parents—even if being a parent isn’t the full scope of what the character does. They somehow balance their incredibly demanding careers and social lives—and oh by the way there are kids in the background somewhere.My partner and I are firmly on the fence. We’re both career-focused and enjoy our downtime; we’re also aware that having children would mandate significant changes to our lifestyle. When we talk about the possibility of kids, that’s a factor. It’s a big part of why we’re still on the fence, in fact. Living in the South, we’re surrounded by couples who are marrying and starting families young because it’s just what you do. I obviously don’t have line of sight into their individual relationships, but I do wonder how many of them had kids without thinking through the ramifications first. How many never stopped to ask themselves “Do I want to make the changes to my life that this decision will require?”That was a bit of a ramble, but I guess what I’m wondering is this: why try to shoehorn children into a life that doesn’t have space for them? Does anyone else pick up on this dynamic in the media? via /r/Fencesitter https://ift.tt/36FI4VB