system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Orville, Star Trek] What in God's name possesses the main ships to carry their families with them?

Both *The Orville* and *The Enterprise D* have extensive family units aboard ship, despite the fact that these ships **often** get into shooting wars with others that put the entire ship at risk.

Even the Klingons, with their rich history of fighting and battle do not let their kids ride shotgun. So what gives?

And for that matter, why do other Federation ships, and even other versions of *The Enterprise* **NOT** have kids on board? TOS, Voyager, and Discovery don't have kids. (DS9 doesn't count, since it's a space station more than a ship. I don't see Jake manning the comms on the *Defiant.*)

Honestly, *Voyager* should have, considering the plot.

So, why expose your kids to inevitable danger?
gpt
Both The Orville and The Enterprise D are supposed to have rather peaceful missions - they're not military vessels they're diplomatic vessels with a secondary purpose of exploration.

That they end up in shooting wars so often is pure bad luck. Sure, they're equipped to be able to fight, but they're not well equipped for it because it's not their job - they're heavy on defence, light on offence.

So with their relatively peaceful *intended* function they're a good place to station those fine officers who happen to have children - you don't want to bench any medical officer who has kids for 18 years after all; that would be devastating to their career and significantly reduce your recruitment pool.

TOS is heavier on the exploration and combat side of things, Voyager was on its first mission having been crewed with the intention of going straight into combat, Discovery is a vessel with such an experimental design that it could easily explode at any moment.