Parents are prisoners of their kids, whether they like to admit it or not. It's never the same after that, but once a person puts so much effort, money, time, health, nerves, etc... into something, no surprise that "something" becomes a very valuable thing in life, if it wouldn't be so - most would go insane.
The thing is - none of that matters (in essence). A bunch of ants blindly reproducing and thinking it's of a high importance. Oh geez...
Family. It may be good, it may be bad, depends on a lot of variables. For some it's best to have family, for some - to stay alone, no universal recipe. I've seen plenty of failed marriages/families and it's a very very sad thing, but I've seen very happy families (number of these is much lower, but still) and it's a very nice thing in that case.
Best is to have as much money as possible, then, even if you'll create a family and go through a divorce - much of stuff will still be easier if you're rich. If you're rich - being "alone" will be a choice, but not an inevitability (and the fear of it is overvalued anyway. I have friends who are like 15years older than me and are "alone" for one or another reason and it won't change any time soon, but they are very nice/intelligent people that I love spending time with and I know for sure that I WILL be there for them any time. I invite them to all of the gatherings with my other friends, trips, etc.. They can have my company if they like, it's a pleasure. So.."alone" is relative).
World is changing, and it will change even more, family wise too, it's just that "older" people can't imagine the magnitude of these changes anymore so they stick to the old values. But it's an everchanging life, traditions, cultures.. Life is good, and as long as you don't indulge in narcotics, alcohol, other destructive activities that would suck the "person"out of you - enjoy it, family or no family, you can find plenty of people from different ways of life and share this precious time with them, if you want..