"Good for You"
The Winter 2016 issue of Virginia Quarterly Review contains a new essay from me, “Good for You: What Makes a Happy Family?” Here is a little sampling:
I’ve read reasonable and compelling arguments against having any children at all, though these arguments are often diminished by editors who provide headlines like this: “Having kids is terrible for the environment, so I’m not having any.” I’ve seen eight- and nine- and ten-point lists in recent years that explain why not having any children is the best life choice a certain person has ever made. This seems like an exaggeration designed for the internet, but who am I to say? I don’t know these people. Many of the reasons people often give for not wanting to have children—and I’m not making the opposing argument here—have to do with the way that they shut out certain other options in life, which children do. And just as I don’t doubt sibling science, I don’t doubt, on its face, either the soundness of the thinking or the soul-searching involved in coming to these conclusions. I don’t tend to care whether other people have children or not.