Another day, another whack of non sequitors.
First, kudos to you Ridgeman08 for having such a great relationship with your kids. I'm sure that this outcome was no accident.
Now, besides that you and your kids love each other so much, how does this have anything to do with the main topic of this thread? Surferboy did something that he now may be regretting. But according to you, the regret he should have is that he chose a life different from yours.
Being a good parent is the most selfless and rewarding role anyone can ever have, and I wouldn't trade a second of any of it, for anything in the world imagined or unimagined.
That said, IMHO, THIS is where you made your mistake:
I find this presumptuous at best, patronizing at worst. The decision to breed is one of the biggest a person will make in their life, and it's one that should only be done with the full willingness of the participants. Henry Morgenthaler, at great personal cost (not just money) chose to perform abortions, and he did it without any guilt, because his mantra was, every child should be a wanted child. Society still elevates parents and looks down on, and sometimes even discriminate against couples who choose to be childless. This is unfair. Google 'childless by choice' to read what many, especially women, have to deal with. They are often asked to justify their choice. Are pregnant couples ever asked to justify their choice? No, they are lauded unconditionally. The only ones who aren't judged are those who can't conceive. They are pitied instead.
Second, you say
Being a good parent is the most selfless and rewarding role anyone can ever have, and I wouldn't trade a second of any of it, for anything in the world imagined or unimagined.
I can accept everything in that sentence except one ill considered word- selfless. On that point I call total BS. You had kids because you and your partner wanted them, together, unless you've been a single dad all this time. You presumably knew what you were in for, to the extent that it's possible for new parents to know. And even knowing how much time and money and stress it would take out of you, you figured that it would be more than worth it. And happily, in your case it worked out. But don't kid yourself. Being a parent of wanted kids is many things but it is not selfless. It is selfish. You chose to do this because it's what you wanted it for yourself. You did not do it out of obligation to serve some higher purpose. I'm not saying that breeding and raising healthy, well adjusted kids is a bad thing, but let's call a spade a spade.
Take Robert Latimer, the Saskatchewan farmer who murdered his severely crippled and handicapped daughter by putting her in the cab of his truck and asphixiated her with carbon monoxide fumes. He claimed it was a mercy killing. He could not let her continue her endless suffering. Here's a man who, rather than send her away at the first opportunity, chose, with his wife, to keep her at home and raise her at home, complete with all the tubes, meds, midnight runs to emerg.... That is what it means to be selfless. I don't know how much fulfillment he did or did not get from all the years of caring for her, but I think we can all agree this is not something he would have chosen for himself.
Getting back to main point of this thread, having a conscience can be really inconvenient at times. I'm not going to judge Surferboy, even though this is what he's asking us to do. I'm only willing to say- you can run from just about anything, but you can't run from yourself. So Surferboy, next time you look in the mirror, ask that person, 'are you someone I want to associate with? '