Read this article to see if you fit into one of these categories of people who have just one child….

Prior to the 1930’s, before the advent of vaccinations for children and birth control, multi children families were a norm rather than an exception. It was common to see parents left with seven or more children even after losing some to diseases.
With advancements in medical sciences and a drastic reduction in infant mortality rates, it is no longer a risky proposition to limit the number of children. There are couples who have taken a step further by restricting themselves to just a single child and keep the family small. The reasons are various:

• An obvious one: Birth control methods allow the parents to plan their family and make it a matter of choice rather than a ‘gift from above’.
• More and more women are opting for full-fledged careers in hitherto male domains. Many get married late and further defer giving birth to a child as it may hamper their career graph.
• When couples with a single child allow a huge time gap to lapse before deciding on their second child they would have often crossed the ‘ideal biological time’. Such couples may opt to keep the family small and have only one child instead of risking a second child at an advanced age.
• Bringing up a child is no child’s play! The costs involved are enormous. A variety of people are finding sense in having just one child and offering it their best.
• Busy couples with fast-track careers opt for a single child to satisfy their parental desires without compromising on their careers.
• Infertile couples who opt for adoption often stop with just one child as the expenses involved in adoption are huge.
• There are parents who decide to be just a family of three in order to avoid complexities such as sibling rivalry, increased demands on themselves and rising expenses. On the other hand, they take pleasure in investing their entire energies on their single child and revel in the positives of having a small family.
• When divorce occurs early in the marriage, the couple is left with a single child when in reality the family has not really had a chance to grow.

While reasons for having an only child keep growing, the commonest non-medical reason for parents to increasingly favor smaller families is to maximize on their resources and to provide their financial and emotional best to their one and only.

What is your reason? Say it in the comment box below………