Population growth is killing our planet. I felt it best to replace ourselves, and that's it.

Plus, it's practical. So many things are sized for a family of four. And DH and I can still take one child each to get one-on-one time without anyone feeling left out.

You never know what you’ll get and your 3rd could have special needs that could be very consuming and take time and resources away from your existing 2 children.

Don’t push your luck.

Grew up with one sibling. Our family never felt small - always just right. We were able to travel easily and often. Family dynamics were smooth. Each sibling had the right parental attention but there was also a sibling bond.

My second baby was a lot more demanding than the first. I didn't have the bandwidth to manage a baby on top of her, or risk having another demanding baby. We decided to wait until she grew out of the needy phase. That didn't happen until she was 7/8. By that point we were to far removed from babies to want to go back.

There's never an odd man out

No one has to have a middle seat (or you don't have to have all cars with third rows)

Hotel rooms more easily accommodate four

Restaurant tables are easier to find for four

You can split the kids and parents up and each do one-on-one time

It is more likely that they can have their own space in the house (i.e. bedroom and bathroom)

Private school tuition times three is significantly more

It's cheaper to fly

People are generally willing to have your two kids over, whereas at three or more it becomes a bigger burden

It's easier for both parents to do things with one child because you only have to have plans for the other one

You don't have to be pregnant as many times (barring triplets or other high multiples)

Anonymous wrote:Hotel rooms - we love to travel and are still able to get one hotel room with two king/queen size beds and the two kids can share. Our friends with three kids always need two rooms as many hotels don't allow 5 to stay in one room.

Yes and sometimes you need two taxis too.

I'll play devils advocate for three kids. I grew up in a family of 4 (two girls two years apart) and always thought that's was a great size (and it is). We had two boys two years apart and assumed we were done for many of the reasons people listed here. We decided to try for a third and had one more boy three years later (so three boys in five years). Our money situation wasn't super tight so we have been able to move things around and not really notice the difference. It was hard for one of us to handle all three kids on an all day outing for a few years, but we got an au pair and that gave us an extra set of hands when they were little. Now I think it's easier than two because they work together as a group to keep each other occupied. If it's what you want, there are plenty of upsides to offset the downsides.

Travel. It’s hard to find accommodation for more than 4 depending where you go.

Equal numbers of parents and kids. You don’t want those little rugrats to outnumber you.

Man on man coverage versus zone coverage.

$$$
DH feels he can take both out by himself on camping trips, etc. This gives me some much needed alone time (don't think he could do 3 until they were much older)
Can fit in a car with space between
$$$
Booths in restaurants
Divide and conquer
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America is designed for a family of 4
Rides at amusement parks
$$$
Games are more fun
Bedrooms in our house
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Anonymous wrote:Hotel rooms - we love to travel and are still able to get one hotel room with two king/queen size beds and the two kids can share. Our friends with three kids always need two rooms as many hotels don't allow 5 to stay in one room.

We needed two rooms with 1 kid.

Anonymous wrote:We all fit nicely in the log fume at the amusement park.

This, and tables for four, and in two rows of cars, another $500k for college, Etc.

Hotel rooms - we love to travel and are still able to get one hotel room with two king/queen size beds and the two kids can share. Our friends with three kids always need two rooms as many hotels don't allow 5 to stay in one room.