Having children - is it a "lifestyle" choice?

[twogorgeousboys]

Do you think it's a lifestyle choice in the same way as choosing between living in the city/country, or having an aga instead of an ordinary oven?

I'm asking because a few weeks ago, a newsreader said that having kids was a lifestyle choice, and ever since I've chewed this over in my head and thought it's much more fundamental than that, or at least, her statement was overly simplistic.

It is a lifestyle choice in the most fundamental way possible imo.

I've never looked at it that way before..It never entered my head that some day I would get maried and 'not' have children, it just felt like the natural flow of life, we got married three months later had ds1 and 15mths later had ds2 & dd1 not a 'lifestyle choice' just natural progression.

sorry meant three months later got pregnant not had him...derr..

It does change your life, but I didn't ever view it as a lifestyle choice. It was just something I always intended to do, and what seemed natural to do. I think the writer's view is rather over simplistic yes.

It is a lifestyle choice although not necessarily a conscious one.

No its a life choice, driven by a biological imperative. No style necessary.

No, because once you have children, you don't have a lifstyle. You do however, have a life.

I enjoy a lifestyle which I chose, one that revolves around being a mother, far more fulfilling than the empty work for a greedy boss I pursued with such vigour before kids.
I think having children definitely influences your life choices, re house sizes, where is best for kids. But you in all honety dictate the lie of the land, by when you have them, and where you are in your life when you have them. Money situation, work, liabilities etcetra, so in a way you are always responsible for your actions, the children certainly aren't...

Having children is often described as a "lifestyle choice", usually by people without children who object to supporting families with children. But this is poisonous quasi-egalitarian nonsense. People who choose not to have children rely on other people's children to support them in their old age. Whose taxes will pay for their pensions, benefits and healthcare if other people don't have children? Whose production will ensure that they have food on the table and money to spend from the returns on their investments?

When people without children support families with children from their taxes - or directly through philanthropic giving - they are contributing to their own futures. They may not realise it, but they have as much interest in ensuring that those children are properly cared for and educated as the parents do.

And I'm sorry, Chris, but describing children as a "lifestyle choice" is itself economically illiterate, at least at the macro level. At the individual level, having children is indeed a choice. But for society as a whole, children are essential. Without children, there can be no future..

It is a little over simplified, but, yes, to a greater degree you choose whether to have children, and that will then massively effect your lifestyle.
It is more complicated though as you might end up with a different situation from what you envisaged - maybe having triplets, or maybe a child with a complex disability, or maybe not being able to have children.