We asked UFI Readers this question:
“Based on your experience, what do you think is the ideal time spacing before bringing the next child into your family?”
This is how they responded:
14 Percent 9-18 months
58 Percent 2 years
10 Percent 2 ½ years
13 Percent 3 years
3 Percent 4 years
2 Percent 5 years
This wasn’t the question that we really wanted to ask, but the results are interesting and helpful. One always likes to see the collective wisdom of people. A spacing of two years between children is the overwhelming winner. A nationally representative survey on this question, we suspect, would yield a different result.
As for the question we wanted to ask, but felt it was probably too personal: “What do you think is the ideal number of children?” That question arose as we read the various news reports on “How parenthood makes life meaningful and marriage makes parenthood bearable.” One striking finding of this research was that the happiest married couples either have no children or four or more children. Another finding: Most individuals still want to have two or more children.
This is not an anti-family report, but it has been used as such in the media. We suggest you read through the report and some of the articles surrounding these findings:
How to Keep Parenthood From Making Your Marriage Miserable
The Five Secrets of Happily Married Parents