PLANNING A FAMILY
Most married couples want and expect to have children. Some know exactly how many they would like to have and at what intervals they wish to have them. Others are not so sure about family planning and ask their doctor what he considers best.
Let us assume you have asked my advice. I would recommend first that you get completely adjusted to each other and to being married before you consider having your first child. Whether the time would be a few months or possibly several years depends on you. How long to wait also is affected by the time required to get your home settled and to be financially prepared for the baby. At the same time, I would like you to remember that people generally tend to become less fertile as they grow older.
There is no magic interval at which to space your children. However, a child has usually reached a comparatively settled stage of development at about three years of age, so this is a good time to add a little brother or sister to the family.
How many children should you have? I think the answer to that question is, As many as you want and can afford—and again, I mean physically and emotionally, as well as financially. My only suggestion regarding the ideal number of children is this: keep an open mind about it, for your ideas may change. Often parents change their plans with each child. This is only natural.
‘Speaking of natural occurrences,’ you may say, ‘why not let nature decide how many children we should have and at what intervals?’
Being a doctor, I appreciate nature’s wonders. But I also devote a great deal of time and energy trying to control some of the things that nature does—such as presenting parents with more children than they can cope with—emotionally or financially.
The major religions in this country have recognized the wisdom of controlling nature’s lavish manner of providing children. Some form of birth control, they agree, may be desirable or even necessary.
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