I think there are a few reasons people have kids, none of which are particularly good but some are better than others:
"Because it's just what you do"/inertia/not even thinking in the first place: this is probably 95% of people and the title explains it all.
Curiousity/Boredom/A new challenge: this is probably 3-4% of parents. They've accomplished a lot, are pretty smart, and want to try something different. To me, this is kind of a lame excuse because it implies a surrendering of ambition. Anyone can raise a kid and quite a few people can do it well at that.
Because they need one: this is a 1% group. The Obama's and upstanding closet gays of the world whose careers will be advanced by having children and thus appearing as relateable as possible.
Because they should: another 1% group. These people have convinced themselves that the world will actually be better off if they procreate (which in some cases may be true, though I'm skeptical of any reason since I believe nature has less of a role to play in a person's outcome than people think and that nurture is overrated since kids often don't respect their parents despite how awesome they are and therefore don't give a shit about fulfilling some assigned sense of duty).
In short, I don't know there is any particularly admirable or commendable reason why people have kids.
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