The selfishness of having children

Kudos to Nigel Pike for doing his part to preserve the earth. 
All too often, childless couples are looked upon as selfish beings who only care about themselves. While that may be true in some cases, the fact remains that many childless couples are in fact sacrificing themselves for the good of the planet. People such as Mr Pike and his wife, who are capable of producing children but willingly do not do so for the sake of the earth, deserve our admiration and not consternation.
It is tiresome that so many people act condescendingly towards adults who are not married or are childless. In fact, the selfish ones are oftentimes couples with children. 
It is embarrassing, for instance, to see Thai children running up and down public places such as restaurants and causing a disturbance, while parents do nothing about it. The parents are clearly putting their children’s welfare ahead of the public good. The attitude seems to be, “as long as my child is happy, that is all that matters; and to heck with others who do not like it”. 
While some Westerners also display the same attitude, it should be pointed out that most people in developed countries will severely scold their kids who misbehave in public, realising that the world does not revolve around their family.
Even though couples with children have to put a lot of time and effort into raising their kids, they far too often only care about their families and not about others around them. Childless couples on the other hand seem to put more effort in caring about the public good. This hardly makes them selfish people.
 Paul
 Khon Kaen