Photo by Evil Erin

Did you recently tie the knot? Are thoughts of children now rapidly running through your head?  There comes a time where you need to think of exactly how many children you plan on having.  Whether you decide to have one child or five children it is important to have a discussion with your spouse as well as an ED doctor in order to decide when you want to both start and stop the process.

Things would be easier if you could simply choose the gender of your children.  Many sibling relationships are based on gender and couples wish they had control of it.  If you have two children of the same sex they will be more likely to be close in their younger, toddler years although nothing is guaranteed as they age.  And most couples would also prefer to have the son before the daughter so their daughter can have an older brother to protect them once they hit the high school years, but again this is not controllable.

And siblings tend to grow closer in their 20′s and 30′s.  Siblings tend to be very close when it comes to life changing events as well such as weddings, baby showers, graduations and more.  A sibling is usually someone you can trust throughout adulthood to be there when you really need them and perhaps your other friends cannot be around.

Photo by Joseph Woodley

If anything happens to you, you can be confident that you have more than one child to take care of things.  When we get older we hope our children can take care of us although this is not always the case.  Some children will end up moving away while others will have a large family of their own and then what.  No one wants to end up in a nursing home unless they truly have to to.

In the event that you truly feel as though you could never have more than one child you are not alone.   Having only one child is far from the end of the world and do not think that because you decide to only have one that they will be forever lonely or that no one will take care of you at an old age.  And even if you decide to only have one child now, you can have another child in a few years because there is nothing wrong with a little age difference.

Many people think the American dream includes 2.5 children behind their white picket fence, with a dog and the perfect lawn, but this does not go for everybody.  More and more families are considering having fewer children for various reasons.

Photo by Ajsmen91

Having one child means less expenses.  This will not only benefit your wallet, but it will also be great for your only child.  Although you will not want to over spoil your child since it could affect them negatively in the future, you want to be able to provide for them.  Having only one child means you could actually afford to send them to the private college of their dreams versus needing to send your children to state school.  There is the happy medium between spoiling your children and giving them the bare minimum. With only one child to fend for it will be easier to meet these expectations.

It is more likely that there will be less stress if you only have one child.  Sure, your one child could be a troublemaker, but it is less of a chance than if you were to have three or four children instead.  And you only have to worry about one sporting event or one dance recital instead of figuring out how to make it to three events when they all just happen to be occurring at the same time.

Photo by Kelly Martin

As selfish as it may sound, one child also means more time for you.  Instead of needing to wait for more than one child to grow up and move out of the house, you only have to worry about one.  An ED doctor can help you when it comes to determining how many children you wish to have and what is fiscally best for your family.  Options are available for spouses so you do not have to be concerned about accidentally conceiving and ending up in a sticky situation.  For some couples one child simply is enough and that is just fine.

If you are concerned that your only child may be socially awkward this is a myth.  Even if you have six children, there is no guarantee that they will be social butterflies.  The key is to bring them up in a good home and make sure your children stay active at extra curricular activities.  Make friends with mutual parents as well and ensure that you children have ample play dates.  This will determine their social abilities more than a sibling.