How Many Kids Is Too Many?

In our lives there are so many decisions that we make. There are day to day decisions, small decisions, big decisions, and so many others. It is so important that we realize the importance of making these decisions, as well as thinking about how these decisions will affect our life, as well as the lives of others. We all know some of the big ones we all face, where should I go to school, what should I study, and who should I marry. But one of the biggest decisions we will make in our lives is how many kids we should have. This decision obviously will have an effect on our lives and the lives of our significant other, but have you ever stopped to think about some of the possible myths and lies you have heard about having kids? In my post today, I am going to be emphasizing just how important it is to spend time thinking about how many kids you want, and what possible outcomes might come as a result of that decision.

             I want to start off by talking about some of the trends we have seen in our country about the average size of families over the years, as well as some of the factors that determine this number. Some of the evidence I found while looking into this really surprised me, and hopefully it will help you all to learn something new also. Did you know that in 1790 the average household size was 5.8 people? Okay, I’ll admit that’s not the most fascinating fact ever, but what is interesting about that is that in 2008, that number fell all the way to 2.56 people per household! Why do you think that is? Well, I found out that a big reason is the simple fact that today on average people are getting married a lot later in life than back then. Of course, as families started having kids later, they are going to have less kids than if they had started sooner. People are starting to put higher priority to other things in their lives such as jobs, money, vacations, and other things that they think having kids will get in the way of them obtaining. We need to ask ourselves which of all these things (including having children) are truly important. Regardless of the fact of the age that  they get married, couples are having kids later in their years than we used to. An increasing number of women are starting to have kids in their late 30’s now, limiting their ability to have bigger families.

             There are people in the world that will tell you having children later, or having less children is a good thing. They say that the world is overpopulated, and that we need to stop having kids to save the planet. In 1968 a man by the name of Paul R. Ehrlich wrote a book titled, “Population Bomb.” In his book he predicted that by 1980 millions and millions of people would die due to overpopulation. He was telling people that it was actually selfish to have several children, and that we need to not have any more than just one maybe two kids. But if you look at the world today, you can see that he was obviously wrong. In fact, in present today’s world, there are fewer people who are suffering from lack of food and water then ever before. He also taught in his book that if we didn’t stop having more and more kids, we would run out of space for everyone, and we would die from lack of resources. Well, he was wrong again. I learned that if you gave every family in the world one acre of land, they would all fit in the state of Texas! How crazy is that? So, with all this evidence, it leads me believe that having more children is definitely not a bad thing as Mr. Ehrlich projected.

             Okay, please don't misunderstand what I am trying to say in with this article. I'm not saying that unless you have 10 kids you are doing it wrong! Some life styles only allow for one, maybe two kids, as well as some women just physically can't have a lot of kids. My true hope in writing this article is to help everyone understand just how important of a decision this actually is, and to maybe present some new ideas that you hadn’t considered before. For those of you who are at this point in your life that you want to start having kids, I hope it helped you to realize just how big of a decision it truly is, and that you won’t take it lightly!