Why do so many have more than one child?

[Eagle Eye]

Well our first (son who is now almost 4) was great during the day but was a horrible sleeper (woke up about every 2 hours until he was 20 months). We were sure that we would never have another child due to just being so damed tired and grumpy all the time. We finally figured out why he was sleeping so crappy (sleep apnea) and he had surgerey to remove his tonsils and adnoids. He finally sleep normally and we decided to have a second child when he was 3. I am so happy that we decided to have another child (a girl) as it is a completly different experience. It has been wonderful for not only us but my son as well. He is so on love with her (not jealous at all) and he can not wait for her to move around a little better.

[Nufy]

Yeah Kids are terrible and they do terrible things....

They are kids. Just keep thinking about the good time and the bad will float away.

I have a 3 year old demon and a 6 year old. Both boys....

The three year can drive me nuts for hours on end to the point where I want to duct tape him to a wall.....

Then he'll turn around and ask me to go in the back yard and play hockey with him or sit and watch TV.

There's something about a 3 year old standing at the back door with a hockey stick and ball that make your heart crumble....

As frustrating as it can be sometimes especially with two I couldn't imagine living without them.

I guess what I'm saying is tough it out and it'll get better.

In 10 years time you'll remember the TV and hockey time way more than you will the puking......

Cheers.

[Finner]

I have 2 sisters and a brother. All of us were 5 years apart, ie my parents had 4 kids in 5 years.

I'm the youngest and i can say that having siblings was the greatest thing for me.

My sisters helped me pick out clothes on my first date, and the valentines presents i got for girlfriends. They would go shopping with me.

My brother and i got in a lot of trouble together. He taught me a lot too.

I always had someone to help me with my homework if my parents were busy, and i always had someone to play boardgames or outside with when i was growing up. Somebody always had my back when i got in trouble at school.

And now that i'm older and in university all of us are really close knit. I look after my brothers kids. I have a new sister AND brother in law who can't believe how close we are. Just us siblings go out for beer all the time, and can tell each other anything.

I was never afraid to talk to women because of my sisters. I always knew how to dress and what was "in". I knew how to cook, fight and look after myself.

[Hack&Lube]

Yes, it seems to me my friends who had sisters seem to get along or talk with girls much easier if anything.

They are also more well-rounded socially.

[LK34]

Originally Posted by MacDougalbry

In this era where many kids start full time daycare when they turn one, having siblings is probably not as crucial for social development as it once was.

And that's why I don't work.

It's too expensive to have your kids in full-time care, by the time I paid the bill, I'd have next to nothing left of my pay.

[Byrns]

Hey so I missed this thread the first time around, and since it's been so long I wonder if anyone's attitudes have changed?

I'm the youngest in a family of 4 with much older siblings (5,10,13 years older) and my wife has an older sister.

We had our daughter 1.5 years ago, but we're not sure about having another. Our concerns are $$$, time, and my wife's age. (she'll be 40 later this year) Right now our daughter is being looked after by my in-laws so the daycare costs are pretty much 0. However, they're getting older... And I'd rather not use daycare for personal reasons.

I do in a way wish we also had a son, but I wouldn't be disappointed with a daughter... But I guess we both are feeling a bit selfish if we just have one kid. Tough call.

[You Need a Thneed]

The joys outnumber the pains. Seeing our two kids playing together is priceless. Seeing my 23 month old trying to tell knock knock jokes yesterday was priceless. He can barely talk yet.

Took my 4 year old daughter out for a bike ride yesterday evening, she was determined to get to the one playground she wanted to go to, so she ended up riding nearly 5 kms - probably 3 times as far as the total combined distance she had ever ridden her bike previously. Someday, I'll do the same thing with my son, and that will be priceless as well.

[habernac]

anyone who tells you 2 kids are twice the work are liars. It's closer to 3 or 4 times. I still wouldn't give it up for the world. But it's not easy some days.

[troutman]

My boys fight sometimes, but mostly they are great buddies, and it is beautiful to observe.

[You Need a Thneed]

The second does certainly add a lot of work. I only have two, but I have friends that have more, one with five kids, one with six. I'd say that after the second, each extra kid adds less work. Is six kids really more work than five? I don't think so. The older kids are helping out as much (by necessity) as adding another kid adds to the workload.

The younger the kid, the more work they are too. When kids can start getting themselves ready, and when they don't need extra things taken along to keep them alive, the workload goes down a bunch.

[Locke]

Forget kids, I miss 'Frank the Tank!'

And all this 'gotta have several kids so they can entertain each other and learn social skills' is garbage.

Seriously, most of the people that I know that came from huge families are weird, they lack the ability to interact with people who arent their family. They dont go out and make friends because they dont need friends when they've got 6 siblings.

[Old Yeller]

Originally Posted by kermitology

I resent the statement that only children are messed up. I'm an only child and I'm not messed up!

I resent it too... and so do the voices in my head.

My wife and I have 0 right now but in the next year we'll be trying... of course we just had her two sisters over to stay with us and they each brought their 2 kids so we had 4 kids running around the house all under the age of 5... when they left I almost tried to give myself a vasectomy.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by troutman

My boys fight sometimes, but mostly they are great buddies, and it is beautiful to observe.

Why not make a profit by building an octagon in your backyard and running a pre teen betting ring.

"Now son just because I bet against you doesn't mean that I don't love you. I just don't love your fighting skills"

[Galakanokis]

I had more than one kid to increase the odds of one of them taking care of me when I am old and decrepit. Those damn adult diapers don't change themselves!

[The Goon]

Originally Posted by The Goon

As an only child, let me assure you that only children are mentally f'ed up. Have zero or two.

What an assclown.

In the four years since, we've had the one boy (now approaching his first birthday) and are giving a second lots of thought. We've been lucky in one sense in that he has been sleeping through the night since early on, but unlucky in that he is a terrible eater, and has been underweight and a little behind on milestones as a result.

Some days I would do anything in the world for him. Other days I would trade him for a good set of Cleveland wedges.

[octothorp]

Maybe I'm selfish, but we're stopping at one, which was our plan all along. I know lots of well-adjusted only-childs, and lots of f'ed up kids who come from big families. I don't think there's any correlation. Good parenting counts for far more of a child's mental state than number of siblings. One of the reasons that we made the choice to go with one is because there are a lot of opportunities we want to explore as a family that would become very complex if not impossible if we were to have more children. Spending a year living abroad, for example. It's going to be a lot of work but doable for us at some point, and hopefully an awesome experience for all of us, especially for our son. But I can't imagine planning a similar adventure for a family with two or more children. (Which isn't to say it can't be done! Obviously there are families that do just that. Just that it's beyond what I could imagine actually being able to do!)

[stang]

I think pregnant women are sexy, hence my multiple kids.

[Muta]

No kids here, none in the cards either. Too many personal ambitions I have to achieve in this life, and having kids simply isn't one of them. Atleast I can admit that though, I'm not going to sugarcoat it.

Plus, this entire world is overpopulated anyways, so why would I contribute to a growing (no pun intended) problem?

[Daradon]

Obviously all parts of parenting are hard, but I think what strikes me about your story Fotze is that your kid is sick. That is always the worst. Having a child who is sick, is probably the hardest thing for a parent. Even worse is if it's something very serious or permanent, like a disability, or cancer or something. You can feel just helpless and would do anything to switch with the kid but you just can't.

Even if they aren't seriously sick, having a sick baby who doesn't understand all the things that are going on to his body and is understandably upset and acting out is very hard. If that's the case, just be glad he isn't permanently ill.

[Finny61]

We need a parenting rant/vent thread. From time to time I feel overwhelmed with two little rugrats running around the house and stirring up trouble. Thankful they are healthy. But you don't graduate to a true parent until you get pissed, pooped or puked on.