I have written several articles in the past as to how, as a father of nine children, I find myself apologizing wherever I go. Those articles sparked an avalanche of letters from families across America with five children or more who told me that friends and family always put them on the defensive for wanting a lot of kids. And they always find some sinister motive behind it. The fact that perhaps we just love children and feel they are life's most precious gift is something they can't accept. As I always tell my friends who ask me why I have a large family, "As soon as I find something I enjoy as much as my kids I will have a lot of that as well."

My wife and I travelled to Australia recently as guests of Qantas Airlines for a book and media tour. The airline could not have been more family friendly and accommodating to the baby we brought on board. A succession of both male and female flight attendants came by to play with the baby. When I asked one forty-something female flight attendant who was holding our daughter whether she had children of her own, she said, "My husband and I thought of it but decided against it. I guess we couldn't find a compelling reason to have a baby." After she departed, my wife said to me, "There she was holding the most beautiful thing in the world in her arms and that wasn't a good enough reason?" (Reszlet – Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: The Criminal Act of Having Too Many Kids)