Having two children is good for your health Three different studies looked at thousands of older adults and found the same thing: two kids was the sweet spot for health. The risk of an early death increases by 18% for parents of an only child. Also, the risk is higher for parents of three or more kids.
“If you want to maximize your subjective well-being, you should stop at one child,” the study's author told Psychology Today. A more recent study, from Europe, found that two was the magic number; having more children didn't bring parents more joy.
The bottom line is, it's totally fine and absolutely normal to change your mind about having more than one kid after you actually have one and realize what it's like. It's also totally fine to change your mind about it right now and then change it back again in a few months or a year or two years from now.
Sharing and Caring
The greatest benefit of having another baby is that your children learn the importance of sharing and caring, which a single child does not learn easily. With two children growing up in the house, you would find it easier to teach them to share their toys, books and all other things.
Children Affect Happiness
In terms of happiness, a compelling argument for having an only child comes from science that strongly indicates that mothers with one child are happiest.
Here, researchers tracked people over 20 years and found that parents were actually happier after the birth of their second baby. With their first child, life satisfaction dipped for several years, then increased to levels higher than before. But a second child steadily increased happiness.
Parents can also benefit from having only one child, Dr Newman says, with "less stress and pressure; ability to pursue your own interests; spontaneity, [and] a closeness that develops between parent and child".
MYTH: Only children are lonely. FACT: Only children can have as many friends as their peers with siblings do.
The World Health Organization recommends waiting 18 to 24 months between giving birth and getting pregnant again, to reduce the risk of stillbirths, lower birth weight babies, and pregnancy complications.
"The survey finds that the majority of respondents believe that two children is the 'ideal' number for family happiness, but the majority of respondents also have two children.
Two kids require more time, more attention, and more energy than one, which means you have less of all of those to spend on each other. Date nights, romantic evenings, and even casual conversations are harder to come by. You also have more things to disagree on.
First of all, every pregnancy, birth, and baby is different, so history doesn't necessarily repeat itself. Then, there's the fact that parenting two kids is a hell of a lot harder than parenting just one. You only have two hands, one lap, so many hours in the day, and so much energy to expel.
From pregnancy and labour right through to the effect on family life, having a second child can be a very different experience. Lots of mums worry that they won't bond as instantly as they did the first time, but often the reason parents feel they aren't bonding as quickly with a second child is simply down to time.
According to a Gallup poll, 4 in 10 Americans say three or more children is the ideal family size.
A study from Princeton University and Stony Brook University found that parents and nonparents have similar levels of life satisfaction, but parents experienced both more daily joy and more daily stress than nonparents. “Life without children is simply much more stable,” Glass says.
His recent study of 13,500 kids found that any difference in social competence between only children and those with siblings disappears by adolescence: By grade 7, only children were just as popular as their peers with siblings. The study's authors concluded “there is little risk to growing up without siblings."
And you can blame your parents for this. Research published in the Journal of Human Resources found that firstborn children outperform their younger siblings on cognitive tests starting from infancy — they are better set up for academic and intellectual success thanks to the type of parenting they experience.
A woman's peak reproductive years are between the late teens and late 20s. By age 30, fertility (the ability to get pregnant) starts to decline. This decline becomes more rapid once you reach your mid-30s. By 45, fertility has declined so much that getting pregnant naturally is unlikely for most women.
Some couples find it easier to get pregnant the second time around (maybe because they are already familiar with their unique ovulation patterns), but for many couples, it takes longer to get pregnant the second time. In fact, secondary infertility is more common than primary infertility.
They found no differences between the two groups; only children did not emerge as being any more selfish than children with siblings. This particular stereotype is thought to stem, at least in part, from the idea that only children grow up as the sole focus of their parents' attention.
You get to focus on quality — not quantity. Having one means you can give your child undivided attention when she's having a hard time and needs you to be there, really be there, for her. It means she will grow up knowing that she was all that was needed or wanted.
Only children often develop better verbal skills and excel in school because they are read to more often than children with siblings, she said. Only children also tend to have higher IQs, which researchers say may be because their parents have higher expectations for them and more time and money to give.
Earlier studies have also shown that only children have some advantages, namely in achievement, intelligence and creativity. They may also have better relationships with their parents, and fewer behavioral problems in school, according to the authors.