Re: Have children, or have a pet?

"They aren't prepared for and don't want the real responsibility of a real child, with the crying in the middle of the night to get her diaper changed, the terrible twos, the sporadic bouts of defiance, the pain of watching them learn hard lessons about bullying and other childhood and teen issues, etc.

It's much more likely that someone under 15-20 really wants a pet not a child than the same individual at age 25+. By their mid 20s, most adults without children have a much better appreciation of what it means to raise a child than they did when they were still children or teenagers themselves."

One wonders about elder sisters. A real child crying at night to get her diaper changed will raise the whole household, specifically including any teenage or elder siblings. Ditto about terrible twos... so a teenage (or preteenage) girl could reasonably ask why it is her mother who gets laid all the time.