Social Psychologist Susan Newman, PhD speaks up on this subject in her recent Singletons blog post Mothers with One Child are Happiest.  I tend to agree with her – especially those moms with my temperament.  I mean, I was created to have 1 child:

  • I am a perfectionist who likes my house clean, organized and relatively quiet.
  • I like life to be predictable – children by nature are not.
  • While I have many friends, only a few people know me well.
  • One of my best friends has parties with 100+ people.  My perfect gathering is less than 15.

My son is such a great kid.  He’s smart, well-balanced and funny.  I hear about people who have a second child because their first was so easy.  Inevitably, they end up with a wild-child.  I am no longer willing to take that risk.  How many kids = happiness for me? One.