Everyone discusses family size since the birth of the Suleman octuplets and I've been getting a lot of dirty looks when I take my kids out. Now, I only have eight. I do have one set of twins but they were spontaneous. But I have to say I'm tired of being judged for having a large family. Besides - what is the "right" number of kids?
Is the right number of kids something we should have mandated by the government? I don't think that would fly very well in the US. Is it how many bedrooms you have? Or seats in the car? How about we regulate the number of kids you have based on the amount of money you make or how many years of college you have? None of these sound like great ideas on a wide spread scale.
Do some people make decisions on these issues, yes. But one family might feel that their income would safely raise two kids and another with the same amount might this it would raise more, because there isn't one, right, clear cut answer.
Most people take into consideration finances, lifestyle, vehicle, personal preference, place where they live (city wise), home, how old their other children are etc. Some consider ecological and emotional beliefs when planning their families. And we also have to acknowledge that many babies are still not planned at all.
So what's your right answer and how did you come about deciding it? Join us in the conversation in the forums.
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I feel like I’m the only person in the world that isn’t riled up about “the octo-mom.” It’s far from an ideal situation. The burden on the system argument has merit, but seems to be blown way out of proportion for the sake of having a name and a face to use while indulging in debates. She’s a person who made an unusual choice, partially at the behest of her IVF specialist.
I don’t believe that our business should be in the business of regulating family size or dictating who is allowed to have children. I think the “octomom” situation is a poor example of what a large family is like, and so are the Duggars and the Gosselins (and notice that the Gosselins and Duggars have both been media darlings while Nadia Sulemon is routinely trounced). I do not believe in population control. I believe in education and personal responsibility, but as you noted, that means different things to different people. I think there are far too many people who don’t plan their children and don’t take care of them for me to feel like I should base my family size on someone else’s choices. If a person feels that they would not be good at raising children and do not want to contribute to further population, that is fine for them but I do not expect them to dictate my family size anymore than I would dictate that they must procreate.