Good Monday Morning!

1. Question – How many kids is enough?

2. Thought – Also significant among today’s realities is this: earlier generations had more children, which gives grandparents an authority and near-biblical aura their parent children lack. With more offspring under their roof, yesterday’s mothers and fathers had to spread their ministrations, resources and expectations further and thinner, their attitudes by necessity more laissez-faire. And they were younger – often much younger than – new parents are now, and making do on the fly. How they treated their children would today feel like neglect, although more capably independent children tended to result. Starting in their early twenties, my parents raised five. To us that felt normal. Five was standard. Big was eight or ten. Three was small. Two was paltry, lonely, almost sad. One was definitely sad. None was tragic. Prayers were said, condolences offered. Today, though, usually with the explanation of financial concerns, sometimes with expiration dates looming, parents often stop at two, particularly if they find both genders represented. Three is a big brood. Four, which Janice and I somehow arranged for ourselves, starting in our mid-thirties, is prodigious. Five is reckless. Six and beyond is weird. (You Are Not Special by David McCullough, Jr.)