Benefits of Producing and Caring for Children Genetically speaking producing your own children perpetuates your own genes.

Buddha spoke at length about the 31 Planes of Existence.

What is Buddhism's (not just Theravada) position on having children? Namely the benefits of producing and caring for children?

Or does Buddhism mostly see them as a constraint (i.e. Rahula "chain") and there is no connection between between your own progeny and the afterlife?
Ahmed,
From &quot;Living in the World&quot; in Awareness Itself by Ajaan Fuang Jotiko:

§ Once, when one of Ajaan Fuang's students was being pressured by her parents to look for a husband so that she could settle down and have children, she asked him, &quot;Is it true what they say, that a woman gains a lot of merit in having a child, in that she gives someone else the chance to be born?&quot;
&quot;If that were true,&quot; he answered her, &quot;then dogs would get gobs of merit, because they give birth to whole litters at a time.&quot;

How ever, once you have organiced your &quot;Rahulas&quot; production, you have certain duty out of you &quot;linga&quot;-worshiping (bhava-tanha) or craving after sensuality (kama-tanha) to care for it and get rightously ride of it (tanha). That starts with not harming it right from the moment of conception. &quot;This has come into beeing.&quot;
So seeing such, the burdens and sacrifies other need to bear, one does no more desire for birth and a womb but tries to pay ones last dept of gratitude, giving all back and maybe even share the highest gift, once then made his own.
If you would not have been father, mother, son, daughter once, if not having Upanissaya to the Dhammas father, how could this seed possible cause a conception of light, here and now?
Its good to celerbrate the fathersday, and getting the lessons of gratitude understood rightly by performing.
Nobody called you to come.
(Note: This is a seed of Dhamma and not meant for commercial puposes or other wordily gains.)