Ping!
I recall quite a while back you discussing that you had no offspring, but were close to a friends kids. Am I right?
Right. I love kids but am cursed to have none. They seem to like me--or at least tolerate me.
I can tell you from direct observation that for all the problems they cause, they are the greatest blessing in the world.
I have a circle of friends who meet for lunch; all childless. I tell them we are the losers of the world: children are your only hope of immortality. We have failed to project our genes into the future; hence: losers. It doesn't matter how smart or talented you are; nature does not care. It cares about the genes, not the "gigantic lumbering robots" the genes have constructed to ensure their transmission.
That is the practical bit. The spiritual bit is even more important, and ineffable.
--Boris