Parenting can be exhausting. There’s so much going on on any given day that it’s only natural you might forget a few things now and again. Wednesday is soccer, next Monday a project is due, there are two birthday parties to attend on the 28th, plus a swimming lesson wedged in between. And so on and so forth.
Some memory lapses are forgivable; others get publicly shamed. Like forgetting how many children you have… That’s exactly what happened to one dad momentarily, while he was chatting to some friends at a Bar Mitzvah. The child-free couple has told how he advised them not to have 3 kids in a row “like [he] did.” They had to remind him that he actually has 4. It’s opened up yet another debate on how many kids is one too many.
If you think you’re absent-minded now, wait until you have children
Image credits: egrigorovich/Envato (not the actual photo)
A dad has gotten people talking after forgetting that he has 4 children and not 3
Image credits: Rawpixel/Envato (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Pink_Beeb85
How many children are enough? Here’s what Americans think…
$23,000 per year. That’s the average annual cost of raising just one child, with most of that money going towards housing, food, and childcare or education. Given that you’re responsible for your kids (at least) until they turn 18, you’re looking at a total spend of around $414,000 per child. Bear in mind that the figure can increase dramatically depending on where and how you live. Now imagine having 4 of them.
It’s no wonder that families are not as big as they once were. In 1960, there was an average of 2.33 children under 18 per American family. Now, that figure stands closer to 1.6 kids.
When Gallup asked Americans what the ideal number of children for a family to have is, 44% of them said 2, while 3% of those polled felt that having a single child is best. 2% said no kids at all is the way to go.
Interestingly, many Americans still think larger families rock. The survey results showed that 29% believe having three children is ideal, and 12% think four is best. And while many would stop there, 2% of those polled said they prefer having five… or six… or more children. Woah!
Image credits: Ashton Bingham/Unsplash (not the actual photo)
But it’s not just about the money… The more children you have, the less time you have to spend on each of them individually – and on yourself.
Mom of four, Allison Slater Tate, says space can also become an issue.
“We rarely fit into one restaurant booth. When we need to stay in a hotel, we need two rooms… because six people in one room is a fire hazard,” she wrote, before quipping that at times, four kids don’t fit into her brain.
“I have had to forgive myself for all sorts of parenting transgressions… perhaps the worst of which was when we accidentally left child #3 in a Savannah, Georgia, hotel lobby, pulled out of the parking lot, and were already driving toward the highway when we realized that the din in the back of the minivan was a little less ridiculous than usual,” recalls the mom.
So, how many kids is one too many?
“When you have left a child somewhere, ‘Home Alone’-style, that’s when you know you have enough offspring,” says Slater Tate, only half-jokingly.
She later reiterated how lucky she was to be part of a community that understands
People weren’t surprised, and many had similar stories to share
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