I think it's an opinion that is easily stated, but not easily done. It's easy to have kids and say they are your pride and joy, but not take it seriously. It's a very serious burden IF you are serious about raising kids properly. It requires study for each area of life that they enter, careful attention to their needs while trying to develop independence. It's very hard and utterly horrifying. Seeing other parents yell at teachers when their students are falling behind represents to me how dire the situation is, and I see that too often, and I read about it too often. I see it in my own extended family, where a history of neglect and lack of discipline have produced people that are essentially useless in society. But they all still say that their children are their pride and joy. I don't believe they know what it means to take parenting seriously.

Yes, I agree with you, it's very easy to be a hypocrite about this statement. There exists a serious moral bankruptcy in many areas of modern US society that allow people to be hypocrites, to take what they say at face value and just accept it (TV Evangelistic preachers with private jets???).

I like to believe I am taking the job seriously. Having a baby is basically 'Congratulations, you had sex'. Raising a child ranges from tossing a baby in a dumpster to making sure that they are the temporal and financial focus in your lives, and probably further.