To use an analogy, human beings in general and children in particular should be viewed as assets, not liabilities. Of course they require investment, of time, money, or both, but that's true for most if not all other investments too. And the potential payout is massively asymmetrical. One could raise the child that cracks economical nuclear fusion, discovers a cure for pancreatic cancer, becomes the next Michelangelo, or who something we can't even imagine, all for an effectively fixed up front cost.