DEAR ABBY: Many years ago an advice columnist (your mother?) posed the question to her readers, "If you had it to do over again, would you still have children?" I'm wondering when the information was collected, and what the results of that inquiry were, and if you asked the same question today, what the majority of your readers would answer. -- READY2BDONE IN PHOENIX
DEAR READY2BDONE: The columnist was Ann Landers (my mother's twin sister) and while I remember the poll, I don't recall the date. I do remember that the responses arrived on postcards because it predated the establishment of the Internet.
The results were considered shocking at the time because the majority of responders said they would not have children if they had it to do over again. I'm printing your question because it will be interesting to see if feelings have changed over the intervening years.