4 ms·

I think it's mostly cultural. a) The age when one starts gives a pretty hard limit on the maximum number of children one can achieve; this age has been going u

I think it's mostly cultural. a) The age when one starts gives a pretty hard limit on the maximum number of children one can achieve; this age has been going up in most places, sometimes significantly so. b) Female employment rate has also been going up and it also doesn't help. Mixing parenting with full time work outside of the house isn't easy and it's mostly women who tend to feel guilty about the tradeoffs involved. My hypothesis is that this guilt can tamper down the desire to accumulate more of it. c) Relatedly, it's also far more likely that relatives are also in full time employment and generally very busy, so the amount of practical help parents can get from family is likely less. While professional daycare can compensate for this, it is both expensive (in some countries at least) but also potentially less trustworthy, so parents feel more guilt relying on it. d) Having even 4 kids one feels like an outlier in our society (heck one even needs a different kind of car). It seems like large parts of society have adapted to a mostly childless lifestyle and fitting in with a larger family can be challenging. There are also plenty of misanthropes running around who have some sick idea that you ruining the world by daring to have so many offspring and are happy to let you know about it. I can't imagine what having 7 children must be like. This is strange, since even talking to older living people, having 4+ siblings seemed very common back then. So yes, while there are a number of unpleasant economic realities, I personally doubt that they are trump the socio-cultural factors.

mensetmanusman 4y ago
I have 7, it’s great. Is like having 3, but with an army of additional support (our 7 year old for fun likes to get up at 6:30 am and make buttermilk pancakes). It’s surprising how helpful kids are with a Montessori framework.
cudgy 4y ago
> heck one even needs a different kind of car Why? Most couples have 2 cars anyway. Drive separately with 2-3 kids in each car or get an older, cheaper bigger car. First world problems.
- gampleman 4y ago
  Not around here they don't. 1 small car is the norm for families around here (and for good reason, car ownership is rather expensive). Also needing two cars is impractical for a lot of activities. It means you need 2 parents for everywhere you want to take all your kids to. Also road trip (which is BTW a lot more economical way of traveling when you have a large-ish family) is much more complicated/expensive/exhausting if you need to drive 2 cars.
  - cudgy 4y ago
    Other than a few extremely urban areas like NYC, car ownership is basically the same across most of the US. If you can only have 1 car, then you are saving money already compared to most families that require 2 or more cars; just get a larger car that costs the same or less. Yes, 2 parents would be needed to take all the kids somewhere if you have 2 cars like most. Again, you can always get an older, bigger car at similar cost to a newer car if absolutely necessary. Recent study, for example, shows Chevy Suburban and Tahoe are getting on average 260k miles of service over their lifetime. Pick one up with 100-150k miles with a good service record and professional inspection and load up the family for those local trips that require the whole family. Road trips are rare. Rent a large car for thise few occasions; renting makes sense for long road trips many times anyway.

mensetmanusman 4y ago

I have 7, it’s great. Is like having 3, but with an army of additional support (our 7 year old for fun likes to get up at 6:30 am and make buttermilk pancakes). It’s surprising how helpful kids are with a Montessori framework.

cudgy 4y ago

> heck one even needs a different kind of car Why? Most couples have 2 cars anyway. Drive separately with 2-3 kids in each car or get an older, cheaper bigger car. First world problems.

gampleman 4y ago
Not around here they don't. 1 small car is the norm for families around here (and for good reason, car ownership is rather expensive). Also needing two cars is impractical for a lot of activities. It means you need 2 parents for everywhere you want to take all your kids to. Also road trip (which is BTW a lot more economical way of traveling when you have a large-ish family) is much more complicated/expensive/exhausting if you need to drive 2 cars.
- cudgy 4y ago
  Other than a few extremely urban areas like NYC, car ownership is basically the same across most of the US. If you can only have 1 car, then you are saving money already compared to most families that require 2 or more cars; just get a larger car that costs the same or less. Yes, 2 parents would be needed to take all the kids somewhere if you have 2 cars like most. Again, you can always get an older, bigger car at similar cost to a newer car if absolutely necessary. Recent study, for example, shows Chevy Suburban and Tahoe are getting on average 260k miles of service over their lifetime. Pick one up with 100-150k miles with a good service record and professional inspection and load up the family for those local trips that require the whole family. Road trips are rare. Rent a large car for thise few occasions; renting makes sense for long road trips many times anyway.