Having a Big Family-When is it Time to Stop?

Having a big family is definitely not the norm these days. In fact, having a big family is such an uncommon thing they are filming reality shows about it.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ve probably heard that the Duggars are now expecting their 20th child. Now that’s a REALLY big family by my standards!
But, when faced with the question of this week’s “Hot Topic Tuesday”, “when is a big family too big”, I can’t say that I have a definite answer for that.
I’ve read Enyo’s post on Motherhood Looms as well as Heather’s post over on Parenting Patch and I must say that I totally agree with both of them. As long as certain criteria are met, then it’s not my place (or anyone else’s) to say what’s too big a family for them.
The main question that comes to mind for me is:
*Can the parents provide for the family without government assistance? This includes of course all the basic needs: food, clothing, and shelter but also “necessities” like health care and love/attention.
If the answer is “yes” to the above then I just can’t see it being any of anyone’s business how many children make up the family.
Is a big family for me? No way! LOL, DH and I had “planned” on having an only child. God however, had other plans for us and for it, we couldn’t be more thrilled. I absolutely could not imagine my life without either one of my girls, but I also simply couldn’t imagine having 20 of them either :oP
Let’s hear it! What do you think? Are big families the way to go? Why or why not? What’s your “perfect” number family and why?
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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousNovember 18, 2011 at 5:26 PM

    Hi, new reader here, my perfect number use to be 0, now the hubby and I are on number 4! We are defiantly done. We provide for our children without gvt assistance. I say if you can afford them then who am I to say you can't have them. I know for me and my family, we are done!

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  2. Parenting PatchNovember 20, 2011 at 12:27 AM

    Big families are the way to go...for some couples. My husband and I want 4 kids, which most of my peers think it huge. However, the right number is not just some number. Family size depends solely on the family. For some, 0 is enough. For others, 1 or 2 or 3. It just depends.

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