It's definitely not for everyone.
I think if more people realized, prior to having kids, that they weren't really parent material, there would be a lot less abused and/or neglected kids. Unfortunately most people don't put nearly as much thought into the subject as it deserves.
A lot of people just seem to take it for granted that having kids is just what you do, rather than giving serious consideration to whether they truly want kids and if they themselves would make good parents.