Why Have Children?

I believe we live in a pretty selfish society. Society has become a more "me me me" type of society where it focuses on what our own desires are and to not think about anyone else but ourselves. Families are starting to become not as important, nor are they the talked about as much anymore. Instead of pushing people to get married and start a family, it is common to hear people start their careers and do their own thing. People may think this does not have an impact, but in fact it does.
Why are fertility rates decreasing? There are many different reasons as to why fertility rates are decreasing. One of them being that the economic value of children is decreasing. At one point families were mostly living in rural areas in which children were an asset to the family in the work force. But ever since the industrial revolution, there is not as big of a demand and children have actually become more of a liability rather then an asset. Another big reason is that more are choosing to not have any children. It used to be that the majority of women who did not have children had infertility issues, but now it is because they choose not to.
Why does this matter?
For one, lower birth rates could possibly mean depopulation. This could result in not enough people being in the work force causing a growing number of people being reliant of a decreasing number of people working. This is a more widespread reason as to how not having children can affect the world.
But how does it affect the individual couples?

In Gospel terms, "Parenthood provides the opportunity for adults to learn to be patient, exercise faith, look forward with hope, and show forth compassion to God's children. Over their lifetime, couples with children have more opportunities for experience upon which to develop these attributes of Deity"(Successful Marriages and Families. pg. 157). There is so much someone can learn from being a parent that you cannot learn someplace else. If a couple has the opportunity and can have children, they should take it. What better way to become more like a Heavenly Parents, then to become parents ourselves?