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Don't do the mortgage and children.

It's conventional wisdom in the same way that you're supposed to drink 8 glasses of water and eat 5 servings of vegetables ever day.

The average American doesn't do what is "conventional wisdom".

It's doable if you get 5% annual growth on the balance, and put in 10% of salary. I ignored compounding, and assumed your income was flat.

This is the conventional "textbook" wisdom. It is obviously desirable, but in real life completely impossible. And the gap between reality and this kind of "on-high" prescription is why so many people/families have no savings and have no real way to get out of their current situation.

They don't.