How many children is too many?

[thefabfour]

Currently have four. They are all very little (eldest is almost 6, youngest 11 mo) so we're not considering another right now, but would love another perhaps in a years time

But we are bombarded with negativity. Apart from being told we 'have our hands full' constantly, apparently, we don't have enough space in our house, I will never be able to return to work, the children will suffer because they will not get enough attention.. and so on.

I feel from a society point of view, four is just on the 'acceptable' side of large.

so, how many is too many???

hhhmmmm I'd say more than 14/15 is verging on too many but only cos I thnk that many pregnancies would wear anyone out but then I'm Irish and know lots of people who come from very large families. I'm one of 6 and my mum and dad are from families of 8 and 10. I also have 60 first cousins so large families all round.

As for the less attention thing thats rubbish IMO. Children in large families rarely suffer from lack of attention if the parents are good lovign parents any more than in smaller families. They may not get as much 'individual quality time' (or whatever) but who says thats a bad thing.

MissHannigan - sometimes peple will be rude like that regardless of the actual number of children. I'm only pregnant with no2, but because there will be a small gap between them, (my son was 6 months old when I got pregnant), people feel that they can make rude comments about our inability to use contraception, etc.

Why do they automatically assume that this baby is not wanted? One doctor told me I was old enough to know better and to be more careful next time! And this is only my SECOND pregnancy!

I am an only child and my mum never gave me much attention
I always worry that my 6 never get enough attention, but then I always feel guilty about pretty much everything I do

Too many kids is when you can't cope which of course is avery individual thing.

Personally I would think any family over 10 as being too large, I have no idea why i think that btw!!