A good insurance agent will go through what the financial loss will be on death of you or your spouse or children and put a plan into place to mitigate the financial losses.
Sketchy insurance agents will try to convince you that your family should live the life of luxury and that extra money will make them feel better. Also, they go out of their way to tie life insurance to retirement savings making great profits for them and leaving you with less to retire with.
Life insurance is every bit as necessary for a family as food storage is. It just needs to be done prudently and according to our own needs.