Jerry Seinfeld is Right: ‘Kids are the Greatest Show on Earth’

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld turns 70 on Monday, a milestone that may seem unfathomable for fans who see him forever young as the star of his legendary television sitcom that runs every day, all day in syndication, Seinfeld.

But the Long Island-born comic has been out and about, promoting his latest movie: Unfrosted, a satirical look at the race between Kelloggs and Post to make and launch the Pop-Tart.

In an interview with Graham Bensinger, Seinfeld was asked how having children changed his life.

Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld, who have been married since 1999, have three children, a daughter Sascha, 24, and sons Julian, 21, and Shepherd, 18.

“Kids are the greatest show on earth,” Seinfeld told Bensinger. “You just want to watch them live … the kids are very entertaining.”

It seems clear that the popular comedian isn’t suggesting parenting is a passive endeavor. In fact, he later goes on to describe what he considers to be the “three poison P’s of Parenting.” He suggests we should be careful to not give our children too much pleasure or too much praise, nor try and solve all their problems.

But it’s refreshing to hear a decidedly secular personality laud the value of children, an increasingly rare occurrence these days in popular culture. All too often, commentators reference children as a burden and bother rather than the blessing they are.

For example, yesterday’s Politico featured an essay sensationally titled, “The Far Right’s Campaign to Explode the Population.” Written by Gaby Del Valle, the piece focuses on last December’s “Natal Conference,” a diverse gathering of individuals who have expressed a commitment to addressing and confronting the population bust.

Just last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released the latest data showing that the American fertility rate is just 1.62 births per woman – an all-time low.

Del Valle buttresses the position that the push to reverse this catastrophic trend is some right wing campaign by assigning ill motives to some of the speakers at the conference. She zeroes in on the observation that the Wall Street Journal and others apparently made at the conference – that if liberals have fewer children and conservatives have more, we’ll enjoy a “better” or more conservative country.

Truth be told, any claim that there’s a conservative cabal plotting to “explode” the population gives an enormous amount of credit to those of us championing children and a higher birthrate. “Exploding” the population, while an aspirational and good goal, is not the realistic expectation. Simply getting back to replacement rate and promoting and elevating the joy and value of children is.

That a few with questionable associations may glob onto the movement does nothing to diminish the danger of the crisis. Politico seems to suggest all those in favor of more children are bad actors, a foolish and ignorant take that belies the countless people of faith who encourage marriage and children.

Hostility or indifference toward children is growing. Anti-natalists hold that children are expensive and time consuming. They consider them harmful to the environment. And since the world is in such rough shape, it’s only the selfish adult who would want to expose a child to such chaos. They see the fertility collapse as a good thing.

Faithful Christians are aware the Lord has the exact opposite point of view. Scripture tells us they’re “a heritage from the Lord” (Psalm 127:3) and that He knew us before we were even conceived (Jeremiah 1:5).

Don’t look for Politico to go after Jerry Seinfeld for lauding and celebrating children, but perhaps the comic’s sentiment will help change some minds about the delightfulness and richness that comes with large families.

Image from Getty.