Is Family Size Really Everything?

When the topic of family size comes up many are quick to judge.

Having one or two kids sometimes can make the parents seemolder. Meanwhile, having four or five kids can make the parents seem irresponsible. Due to this stereotype, the question arrises What’s the perfect family size? Many would argue that bigger is better due to the recycling of clothes, the fact that the children ultimately grow up to pay taxes and that large families create support systems within in the family. However, smaller families are better due to money for college, less bullying and sibling harassment and finally parents can spend more time with their kids. Smaller families are better for several reasons. One main reason is that college is more affordable.

College is expensive and unfortunately the more expensive the school, the better the education. College doesn’t define your success in life; however, it is a stepping stone in the right direction. With this is mind, the less kids equals the more money. When parents have only one or two kids, kids have the chance to attend the school they want or a private university. Private Universities do have a smaller student to teacher ratio.

This entails more one on one attention for your kids. According to Anna Sutherland,….

..”the more siblings, the lower a persons educational outcomes”(Text 2, P1).Parents have more time to focus on their child’s work when there aren’t so many siblings. Kids have more time to focus on their work when they aren’t worried about what everyone else in the house is doing. In 1988, Douglas Dewey conducted an expedient regarding educational outcomes and sibship size.

Dewey founded that ” children with many siblings had fewer parental resources the children with few or no siblings (Sutherland 6).His research dilution doesexert negative effects on the eduction of children from larger families. Overall, the less children a family has the more scholastic benefits and the more attention each child gets from his or her parent. With more attention from parents, students are more focused and better helped to achieve their goals. With many siblings one thing is always present and that’s bullying. Bullying comes in all shapes and forms.

This includes physical and emotional. When kids are harassed by their siblings it can make them feel bad about themselves and make them uncomfortable in social situations. One example of this was stated by Professor Wolke of the University of Warwick. He stated that”children who faced bullying both at home and on the playground were particularly vulnerable to behavior problems and unhappiness” (Text 3 P 5). Children face enough troubles at school that they shouldn’t have to face them at home. Siblings should generate support.

In some cases many siblings does create a support system. However in many cases it just leads to harassment. In the findings of one observer “31% of children saying they were hit, kickedor pushed by a brother or sister “(Text 3 P2). This not only creates tensions between siblings but in addition can weaken the relationship with parents. Kids can feel like their parents are siding with the other sibling and this only creates a feeling of favoritism and or distrust. Often in large families children feel forgotten or not important.

Mainly due to the fact that parents can be preoccupied with other siblings. When children act out they are only doing it for attention. Thus the less siblings and more attention directed at the child the better they are behaved. In Anushka Asthana says that”An only child is a happy child” (Text 3 p2).