My JW husband and I didn't have kids till we were in our 30's because we were waiting for 1975 end to come. That was the only reason so when that time passed in 1983 we had our first child. He was a surprise though because we had come to the conclusion we couldn't have children after trying to from 1976 on.
We went on to have three children, we had one to die because of an auto accident at 15. I have one in federal prison because he thought he could do anything he pleases after leaving the witnesses and broke the laws. And I still have one good son but his father rejects him because he is disfellowshipped just like his older brother is.
Having kids is a very mixed bag of good and bad. If children grow up and have some common sense and make a good life for themselves living as law abiding citizens we can take pride in them. But how often do we find that children grow up to be something less than we could ever have expected. Unfortunately no matter how much effort parents put into raising their children with morals, obeying the laws and just living a normal life some just don't want that. The children end up bringing all kinds of heart ache on the parents who wanted them so badly. Having children is only good if they turn out good, and I don't mean by JW standards but by how society views overall responsibly good. Then there is the possible death of a beloved child. I knew of one JW family that lost 3 sons to auto accidents and their heart break was so very sad.
The WTS encouraged people to keep the ministry first, but only some of the folks followed that line of thinking because it was a matter of conscious. It was like back in the 30's & 40's they discouraged people in the witnesses from getting marriage but to pioneer. It was crazy but many went along with it and remained single till late in life. We remained childless till after 1975 because we really believed the end was coming.
