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The issue this couple is facing is not whether or not they should have kids - it's about who is going to take responsibility for making that decision. Piper refuses to either veto the idea of having children or to wholeheartedly embrace it, and Smith seems already resentful of being pushed (he claims) into unilaterally making a decision on the matter, a decision that could be "wrong", because...
...in the future, she *might* resent his having talked her into having children she didn't want!
...in the future, he *might* resent her reluctance to have kids for depriving him of the chance to be a father!
It's a false dilemma. The choice is a joint one; there is no calculus of parent-worthiness, no formula where you can plug in Piper's 30% and Smith's 65% and get an answer about which road leads to happiness. There is no way to know whether your choice is "right" or "wrong", if things would have really been better if another choice were made.
Anyway, the decision they need to work out - jointly! - isn't whether they *should* have kids, it's whether they want to try to have kids. Not exactly the same thing, and no results guaranteed, either.
Smith makes clear that for Piper, children are neither necessary nor sufficient to her having a full and happy life. I wonder if that bit of wisdom, which Smith is able to report but seems unable to absorb, isn't the emotional preparedness that Piper alluded to?
So let go of your perfectionism, Larry, and take some of the pressure off yourself, your wife, and your (future, hypothetical) kids. It's not up to you, alone. Hold your wife's hand, and go down whichever road you both choose, together.
