When you're older, will you be able to talk to your "good careers", invite them over for the holidays, share times good and bad with them?
1. It's a fallacy to assume that if another person chooses not to have kids, then their career must be the most important thing in their life.
And since you know nothing about the GP, it makes you sound like an ass.
Except that the GP mentioned his career. And his house. Really, it's in the second sentence. And your ad hominem makes you sound like, well you already said it best.
2. You seem to imply that having children guarantees a functional family unit. Or that your adult children will want to spend time with you.
Or that you will even want to see them. There are no guarantees in life.
Well, I can guarantee that if you don't have children then no adult children will want to spend time with you. I never implied a functional family unit- I know several dysfunctional (to varying degrees) families that still communicate and meet. I know of very few parents who don't want to see their children- no guarantees, but I feel the odds are on my side here.
3. You're ignoring the differences in personality types. Some of us genuinely prefer solitude.
That's rather difficult to achieve when you're catering to a child's needs.
If one prefers solitude to that extent then I would be surprised if they were considering parenthood, firstly due to needing another person for at least the first step.
I didn't realize until after I had children how much I would have missed if I hadn't.
I'm very glad that you appreciate your children. Far too many grow up without that appreciation. But raising children is not for everyone... and those who recognize that before procreating should not feel pressured to choose otherwise. Raising children is not the only way to be happy in life - though most parents seem to feel otherwise.
Agreed- As much as I appreciate my children, I know people who should never ever have their own. I know people who have them who shouldn't have- their lives were a trainwreck before kids, and having kids in no way helped. My point with the post was to point out that they should consider the long term implications, not just the short term as their arguments implied.