The main reason is because we (wife and I) find that our well-being is highest when we're around family and having kids is a great way to increase the chance of having family around for the rest of our lives. Yes, there was the well-known short-term hit to our happiness during the kids' youngest years, but we were going for long-term stability for our well-being and life satisfaction. Of course, this wasn't the only reason. We also knew we had the type of marriage that was likely to remain stable/satisfying and we knew we could give our kids' a great start in life. So, it was a good bet that the kids themselves were likely to live healthy, satisfying lives. For us, it was a pretty easy decision, especially once we were able to find our cohort buried in the research on parenthood and life satisfaction.