Robert Hedges always planned to have children. All planning on the Hedges Farm was done with future generations in mind, even at the expense of present comfort and immediate profits. The purpose of the continuity of history is based on a belief in the probability of future generations. Children are the goal of a long-term relationship. No long-term relationship is possible if children are ruled out as a possibility.
Children are the result of combinations of the genes which each parent offers to the union.
The female offers many important genes, several of which can be seen in her family. The female is born with all of her eggs already created and stored. The genes, which she offers a future child, are encoded in her eggs, which were forming while her ovaries were forming in her mother's womb. This is why the mother's genes are available as a contribution every other generation while males genes are available to be contributed each generation. Women friends offer several things to males, which can be organized in two broad categories, and in two ways.