What do you think is the ideal number of children for a family to have?
A loaded question if there ever was one. Most Americans say the answer is two to three children, according to various surveys over nearly 90 years, even as actual birthrates drop lower than that.
Shannon Osaka, The Washington Post
Madison Colombo, Fox News
Eight Reasons Women Stay in Abusive Relationships
Does Having Children Make People Happier in the Long Run?
What Three Identical Strangers Reveals About Nature and Nurture
Baby Bust: Fertility is Declining the Most Among Minority Women
Measuring the Long-Term Effects of Early, Extensive Day Care
Weekly roundup of research, commentary, and insights changing the national conversation on the family.
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© 2026 Institute for Family Studies
© 2026 Institute for Family Studies
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