It is generally understood in society that parents give a child the chance at existence. They are bestowing the gift of life upon their progeny. This is generally viewed as a giving from parent, to the child who is receiving something. Is this really the case? It seems apparent that people who choose to have children are doing this because something in them is driving them to do so. The kid is not in some cosmic waiting room crossing his fingers and yelling out "pick me, pick me!" While I am sure many people see it as precisely that, the giving of a chance at life, they are not actually against childbirth but have decided out of the goodness of their hearts to create a child anyway. They are doing it because they want to, not because they put their own wishes aside and are fulfilling a duty they feel obliged to. So could all the rhetoric you've heard from parents about "I brought you in, I raised you, I did this that and the other for you" be all technically BS since the child's coming to existence is the result of a need the parents felt in themselves? This need is further demonstrated when the kid moves away from home and the parent(s) are saddened or downright devastated. It seems this supports the theory of the parent needing the child, not vice versa (aside from the obvious having to be cared for during infancy, which is another scenario the kid has zero input on). To be clear, I'm not anti-childbirth. I am raising the question of who needed whom here originally? Pulling people into existence out of the ether seems to be an act originating from the need of the parent. Once the kid is out, he/she has no choice but to make the best of it or opt for an early check out, but the kid never gets to weigh in on whether or not he/she wants to be here in the first place.
As a single father id say the benefit of my childs birth was to me...he's changed me and made me into a better person... The best way I know to put it is a brother ali line "I fed you, changed you, read to you, bathed you... I'm not tryin to hold it over your head, I'm sayin thank you"
If your end goal is to say the parents needed the children then I think that's pretty much a given. If you're trying to argue against parents making their children feel like they owe something for being born then that is a valid complaint, frankly most parents who take that route are assholes.
I know it probably sounds bad, but the human species is qutie similar to a culture of bacteria. Like bacteria, we have within us the evolved capability and desire to perpetuate the species. And consequently, we muiltply. People will have varying reasons for wanting to have kids, but I still think that the evolutionary basis for breeding is ultimately most influential on us.
"Like bacteria, we have within us the evolved capability and desire to perpetuate the species." So sort of just like every other animal ever. Except Pandas, fuck pandas.