There are things about one's life and especially about one's
children that cannot be known in advance and to which it would
be foolish to assume a right outcome or a wrong one. How, for
example, could you possibly know whether you and your family
would be better off having had a boy child and then a girl,
or a girl first, or two girls or two boys? What would your standard
for comparison be? Which child would you have given up in order
to have had the imaginary right family? You might have thought
you wanted a girl, and then gotten one not at all like the girl
you expected-not gentle, not Barbie-doll loving, utterly unlike
your childhood self. You might have thought that having one
child of each sex was perfect, and then found that family harmony
eluded you nonetheless. Certainly, the more precise your expectations
of your children and the more convinced you are that those expectations
can be met (indeed, that you deserve to have them met), the
more disappointed you are likely to be. Without...