Reply to Tim Carney in the Post: The Ideal Number of Kids is Four (at a minimum)

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Reply to "Tim Carney in the Post: The Ideal Number of Kids is Four (at a minimum)"

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[quote=Anonymous][youtube] Lots of parents fulfillment and joy out of seeing their intensive time investment in 1 or 2 children pay off. When they win awards for academics or special skills and get admitted to selective schools or camps, you feel great about all the time you spent together helping them hone those talents and achieve those elite goals.

I know there can be high-achievers from large families, usually the oldest child, but you just can't spend as much time with your golden child when you have 4-5 ankle biters needing this and that[quote]

I disagree with so much of this - mainly your premise that there is some kind of parenting ROI based on your kid’s achievements - but to clap back at just one of your points, I am the parent of four high-achieving kids who each spent plenty of time with their parents. All were successful academically (all national merit commended or finalists, two valedictorians), all went to very selective colleges where two were recruited athletes and one received a full merit scholarship, all did volunteer work, one went to law school, all four are in touch multiple times a week via text or phone and visit each other in their different cities, etc. As parents, we have also experienced joy at their successes, but more enjoyed and valued the  time we spent with them driving to school/music/athletic practices, watching them compete, sharing meals, etc. regardless of their level of success at chosen activities.

Of course even larger families can have more than one high achieving kid, since they are coming from the same genetic pool and usually have access to the same resource pool and parenting. Younger kids may also learn by examples set by older kids regarding setting goals, academic expectations , etc. And of course, each individual kid whether they have no sibling or three will have an individual outcome despite all these resources so there are no guarantees. [/quote]

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