Number of children

[deleted185747]

Is there any data to support the optimal number of children a couple should have? I read the paper by Becker about quality vs quantity of children and the number of confounding variables make a causation effect difficult. Education (child finishing high school) in a poor demographic was higher among those with fewer siblings.

I'm a surgeon and my wife is a dentist. We have 2 kids and my wife wants one more. I'm pretty happy with how things are so far.

Any thoughts?

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[j4pac]

If you are a good person...have as many as you can support. My wife and I are both docs and we hope to have as many as possible until she hits 35.

The studies are incredibly flawed. The truth is the most educated people in our society are having the fewest children not so that their children can have better lives but because they are too busy to have children. Buck the trend.

 

[shootingguard87]

I'm not going to have children because I think the world is FUBAR and I don't wish to add to it.

If you already have 2, I would stick with 2. 3 is nice but it is beyond replacement level, it is a lot harder as you are outnumbered (children > parents) and the cost increases tremendously.

I don't think there is any data for this. Are you trying to find it for general interest, or to convince your wife? If the latter point I think it is unnecessary - if you disagree, say no, otherwise the child will be resented. This will have more adverse outcomes for them than number of siblings.

 

[mercaptovizadeh]

Is there any data to support the optimal number of children a couple should have? I read the paper by Becker about quality vs quantity of children and the number of confounding variables make a causation effect difficult. Education (child finishing high school) in a poor demographic was higher among those with fewer siblings.

I'm a surgeon and my wife is a dentist. We have 2 kids and my wife wants one more. I'm pretty happy with how things are so far.

Any thoughts?

More is nice. I have one sibling, I think another 1 or 2 would have been nice as well. Beyond 4 I think it gets to be hard to give each kid the time you would want to.