If big families are in again, consider us out. My two-kid family may be becoming yesterday’s news.
I assumed since it seems more women are in the workforce, it meant we’re having less children than our ancestors. Right? Not true. Actually, big families have never really gone away. But, these days more wealthy (duh!) and professional (huh?) moms are having bigger families. A babycenter® article titled, “Are big families back?” says:
Professional moms have twice as many kids at home, on average, than their high-powered counterparts did back in 1977, according to a 2002 report from the Families and Work Institute.
Do you find this surprising? I did. But, as one mother pointed out, “this generation is all about creating the life you want.” So maybe having a career and a big family is doable after all.
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5 thoughts on “Go Big?”
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I know two women who just had/are about to have their fourth child. However, neither of these women works outside the home (one homeschools the older three, the other does per diem nursing 2 days a month) regularly. The biggest families I have seen with a WOHM family in the NYC area are three kids. That said, when I loved in the Southeast in 2005 and part of 2006 it wasn’t uncommon for WOHM moms to have three or four kids… often spread out a bit (two that were 2 or 3 years apart, then four or five years between and two more spaced that way). It is surprising. But it exists… sounds like more than we think!
I just want two, but a big part of that is we can’t financially support more than two!
I don’t know too many people with more than two kids. I can’t imagine having more than one! But Jay wants more. We’ll see. If we had all the money in the world, I’d love to have a whole houseful of cuties. But supporting multiple kids has got to be awfully hard.
Yeah, the more I thought about this article, I thought if the professionals who are having large families are wealthy professionals. They probably have the money to pay for nannies. However, there are many large families who are working middle class. They make the sacrifices to raise a large brood. We could probably afford a third child if we sold our house and moved to a less expensive place. But sacrificing more time is another issue.
I’d love to have a second child, but I really doubt we could afford it. It sort of sucks that money is the reason we couldn’t bring another child into the world.
That said, I don’t think we’d have more than two children because I’m big on just replacing you and your partner/husband in this world, due to overpopulation, etc. A college biology teacher said that to me a long time ago and it’s always stuck with me. I don’t look upon anyone who has more than two, but personally, I think that’s what I’d feel most comfortable with. Watch me have twins next.
My husband grew up in a large family and I adore the relationship he has with his siblings.
I would love to have more than the two I have now. Finances seem to be the common limiting factor.