A single word is all that one parent sent: “No.”

On the other end of the spectrum, I got some variation of “Yes! Yes! Yes!” from dozens of others.

Recently, on behalf of a 28 year-old single guy apprehensive about the demands of fatherhood, I asked parents to tell me whether they would still have kids if they could do it all over again.

I heard from hundreds of people. Some sent twinkly odes to sleeping babies, while others slapped their teens’ drug addiction and probation officer visits on the table.

There were single dads, grandparents raising kids, moms who had their children when they were teens, one mother who left an abortion clinic in a last-minute change of heart 26 years ago, a man who adopted a baby girl only to become a single dad when his wife died suddenly, and one parent who said a cat would have been a better choice than any child.

So many amazing stories came in response to Jamel Jackson’s anxious e-mail to me. Jamel, who lives in Washington, has a great job, a serious girlfriend and is “scared to death” of parenting after reading about the extreme schedules some parents have. He isn’t sure he’d ever want to have kids.

I asked for your advice about what to tell him and received many poignant, eloquent responses.

“My wife and I have three young children, and when our friends and relatives talk about starting a family, we always tell them, ‘Kids are like an amplifier,’ ” said Russell Mullen, a Leesburg, Va., dad who wouldn’t change a thing. “They make the good times better and the bad times worse.”

A Fairfax, Va., mom, whose kids are grown, said she wants to give Jamel the same advice she gives to her kids on the topic: “Sow a few oats . . . travel a bit, have a chance to discover who you are. Then when children come and take over your entire life, it is a change you will savor.”

No, it is not easy having those needy, little people.

“Parenthood is a gift not offered to everyone. Accepting this gift means giving of yourself — more than you can imagine — and getting back even more,” said a father of two boys, now in their 30s.

Another dad could relate to Jamel’s hesitation. “Oh, how I lusted after a 1979 Buick Riviera that wasn’t financially feasible,” he remembered. “Guess what? I don’t want it anymore.”

Lynne Cuppernull, a working mom from Herndon, Va., who still manages to do triathlons, said having kids is “sometimes like a tsunami and sometimes like riding the perfect wave all the way in to the shore.

“I was always on the fence about having children. I was convinced in my 20s that children were not for me,” Cuppernull said. “But in my early 30s, I realized the moment of absolute certainty about having children would never arrive. So we held our breath and jumped in.”

There is no ringing moment of clarity, Jamel. Angels don’t sing; the heavens don’t open up to tell you: “Multiply.”

“We had our fabulous city life for close to 10 years and really enjoyed every minute,” wrote Elizabeth Tencza of Alexandria, Va. “When we got to the point where more nights were spent watching Law & Order reruns than doing fabulous city things, we reevaluated and had some kids,” she said. “And it’s great! I couldn’t imagine my life without them now.”