To simulate more living in the wasteland, rather than just fighting. Raise a family and cope with new day-to-day struggles in the wasteland. Would help roleplayers a lot.

And I'm not talking about having a spouse that ALWAYS follows you around and is easily killed like Maria, but stay at home and do other things to help family survive.

Why not have a 9-5 job and a mortgage in game while we're at it...... get up at 5am and take the kids to hockey...... have dinner parties with our annoying neighbors in the shack next door.....

nahhhhh, some of us get to do all of that already.

I don't see how family and kids fit into Fallout.
Fits Fable, but not Fallout.

Different in post-apocalyptic wasteland, which is why it would be much more fun.

No. That would be horrible. So, not only would I have to worry about myself being killed by a cazador, I have to worry about other NPC's?

What would be the point of a feature like that? Just playing house?

The time and recources needed for such an idle thing would, imo, be better spent elsewhere, in more worthwhile features.

It'd be a bit like The Sims? You have to flirt with a lady to get her to love you, then sleep with her, then she is pregnant for a long while. During this time she is cranky and she throws up alot. Then finally, she gives birth. That little brat needs everyone's attention, you gotta feed it all the time and it cries in the night. Then you gotta raise the kid by learning it to walk, to talk and potty train it. Then you gotta help the brat with homework and friends, aswell as keeping it happy by giving it food and such, or else the social services will take care of it (or like in The Sims 1, it goes to miltary school!). Then it becomes a teenager and has problem with acne. It will meet alot of people of the opposite six and fool around with, but can never have six until they are 18. THEN!!!!!!!!! After 18 years, the little brat is gone and you can go out and do quests like mercenary jobs, stealing stuff and sell to evil employers, help repairing dangerous tecnhology and save the wasteland from certain death?

Oh, I also forgot about your wife.... well... forget everything I said above, because of course you make a girl fall in love with you, knock her up, marry her, then you are out in the wasteland all the time while sending envelopes with money to her so she can manage the household and your child while you are gone, maybe hire a nanny and some mercenaries to protect them from huge and poisonous critters and rapist raiders. You will also have to drop by sometimes to slag, drop of some unique loot that you can't be arsed to carry, maybe give your kid a photo of yourself so it will remember you.

I would not mind having a family... then the game starts after your family is attacked by raiders, [censored], and locked inside the house as it is set on fire. You must avenge your fallen loved ones!

It's to roleplay how the wastelanders live, to keep the human population going after apocalypse.

I wouldn't want to see a bunch of tiresome courtship mini-games, but the idea that a PC may have a family could add interest to the scenario. The series is about the sad inevitability of fighting over resources -- what better motivation could a character have than to want to provide for his loved ones? Plus, it's Fallout, so there's a good chance the PC will be rejected by his family in the end. Could be a meaty, involving story.
Just, none of that silly Fable crap, please -- no juvenile video-game six.

Loooool, agreed that would be whack.

Exactly what I was thinking, except you need a end opening cut scene.

I think you want "Fallout: The post apocalyptic real life simulator."

A story which involves a family and a kids sure, a game revolved around taking care of them like a real life family no.