Lots of food for thought on this thread, and the cartoon is funny. I think the discussions from Ravenwolf, Mso489, Lordnoble, and Peck are very interesting. My wife and I are 47 years old and we have four children. In retrospect we feel we were too young having our first two (now age 21 and 19). When we had our third child (now 14) my wife feels was the best time for her, and when we had our fourth child (now 11) I feel was the best time for me. I was too heavily invested in my Actuarial career when in my 20s and early 30s to focus on children, and when my wife had our last child she was, at age ~37, in her opinion, too old and not quite physically capable to have a child. Her thyroid gave out with the last child, so perhaps she is right. But she wanted four children, and here we are with four children. My career is on autopilot now and I have time to spend with the kids, and money to pay for their college, and my wife, though a nurse by trade, has not worked in 21 years, and was able to raise our kids. But we are perpetually tired! And at no time did we ever think we could afford one child, let alone four. We "just do it" and hope for the best.
I think there is a cyclical or generational thing going on here too. One generation will suffer through a Hardship or a Depression and as a result of the struggle will want to send their kids to school/college to learn something useful like engineering, or math, science, accounting, nursing, etc. so that they can earn a decent living and be equipped to endure should another Hardship or Depression occur. Then that generation will have and "easy life" and will send their kids to school for anything the kids wants to go to school for, because they themselves never suffered through the Hardship and they have more disposable income. Their kids go to school and learn liberal arts, social sciences, partying, etc. Then these kids scratch their heads and wonder why they can't find a good-paying job with their four-year degree in Theater, for instance, and so they endure Hardship or Depression, and then encourage their kids to go to school for Math, Science, Business, and other useful things. And so the cycle continues. Just my opinion, but I see that in my own family tree, and I see what the kids are studying in college these days and wonder how they are ever going to get a job with a four-year degree in something useless, burdened now with school loans, on top of it all.