Not trying to be inflammatory but why do people *need* more than two kids?

Nobody needs kids. It's a biological urge to pass on DNA at a basic level. For some it's cultural and religious too.

If your referring to the state supporting more than two kids then that's a sepate question isn't it?

If it was purely logical than no one would kids and our horrible species will die out and the earth can heal and war can stop. But until we all think exactly the same thoughts we will all have different takes on life well lived

I had three because I like children and had enough money to do so. If I hadn't had a bad birth with my third I would have been very tempted by four. Would never have had more than four as I wouldn't have felt capable of giving them enough attention.

As a society it seems to me that if some people don't have any children and others have one them some people will need to have three or four. So I would be in favour of benefits paid up to four children.

That said I am strongly against our present system where the tax paper steps in and absent parents aren't made to pay for their children.

At the moment child maintenance isn't deducted from benefits because it is considered too unreliable. This seems the totally wrong solution to me.

@Fluufer I agree. Kids spending too much time on their own in a bedroom with technology can't be healthy. At least having human interaction with a sibling holds more value in a lot of ways.

We have shared rooms but they are big so sleeping areas partitioned off with ikea kallax. We are lucky that we have other areas where the dc can go if they need space eg a garden room, a conservatory, a second space off the main living room and a loft room (which is an office but they often go up there to do homework or gaming) so there’s plenty of opportunity to have time and space alone as well as being together whatever they want to do

Yes. An aging population with very few tax payers and people to care for them. Not that it's the most desirable job tbh.

My teenagers both share. My eldest said he doesn't want to be in a room of his own as he prefers to have company 🤷‍♀️ his younger teenage brother says the same. They chat together about music at night before dropping off to sleep 😴

My younger two enjoy talking to each other in their bedroom that they share. Not an issue in our household about sharing a bedroom.

My older two cope well at residential trips as they are used to sharing sleeping quarters.

Haven't RTWT, but people don't 'need' more than 2 kids. So I agree with that. On an individual level, people don't 'need' any.

However, as a society, we need some people to have more than 2 kids because lots are having 1 or even none and the declining birth rate has societal and economic implications.

Only goats 'need' kids, humans have children because they want to.
Just that!

I don't need 4 children, I have 4 because I wanted 4.

My mum said the same.

Unfortunately for me, I am her 3rd

95% of terrestrial life forms are humans and their livestock. We need to get a grip of human population before we destroy our planet completely.

You had better stop people growing old then

No one needs children.

Some people want more.

Some people adopt children, often they adopt a set of siblings, if there are three or four in the family should they be split up?

Some people have triplets, or they have one child and then have twins.

Sometimes contraception fails.

I don't think it creates an incentive. The benefit doesn't cover the cost of a child, let alone provide a profit.

I never got any benefit payments and had lots of kids anyway. That wasn't why I had them.

Really surprised at the amount who have four!

I don't think it's racist. It's a clash of values. My religion says that contraception was sinful.
Many people say that it's morally wrong to have "too many" children.
Benefits per child does create a perverse incentive.

Is it though? I actually think too much time by themselves is a major cause of the current teen mental health crisis. Far too much time spent pontificating and falling down internet rabbit holes.

And sharing a room and having no space of their own is very bad for a lot of kids and later on teens as well.

We could all go back to the whole family sharing one space

👆

Nah. A bedroom to yourself is a very recent Western phenomenon. In fact I'd go as far as to say too much time in a space of their own is very bad for lots of kids.

Having your own room is really a privilege and luxury many of the world can only dream of. It was important to me that my kids had their own rooms, and they did, but it wasn't a necessity.

Who cares how many kids people need or want, as long as they can support them it's none of my business.

Disagree. Most kids need a space that's their own.

I don't think anyone needs it but some people feel the need. Some people absolutely love parenthood and having children and just feel the more the merrier.
We stopped at two but started late.

No – have you had any education?

I didn’t say a growing population, I said a stable one. A reducing population creates its own problems with increased economy and health and social care issues. The solution isn’t simply ‘have less kids’, it means managing social and infrastructural welfare at a population rate than is neither drastically reducing or increasing.