Across the developed world, fewer and fewer people are becoming parents, and many see themselves as never doing so. In waiting for the right partner, the right job, the right house - the right circumstances - we close off the possibility altogether. And what's more, we're told that maybe we shouldn't have children. Faced with climate collapse and political crisis, perhaps our children's lives won't be worth living.

Anastasia Berg and Rachel Wiseman find a way out of our inertia, building an optimistic case for human life. A life worth living is any life, as a parent or not, where we make and live for our genuine commitments. What Are Children For? is a call to take the decision of parenthood seriously, and take it into our own hands.