Why should people have babies?

Let’s face it, the little critters leak at one end and the other, and being a parent is an exercise in spending three to five years in smelliness and grubbiness. I remember days I didn’t even know what I was washing off my hair (but knowing my boys, it was probably peanut butter.) I remember the disturbed sleep patterns. I remember worrying obsessively about them. (Okay, that was last week.)

So, why have kids at all? Why does anyone bother.

Because we’...