Lola is thinking about having a child and asks you for advice. Use research presented in your text to describe positive and negative aspects of having children and positive and negative aspects of being childless

What will be an ideal response?

There are many factors that go into the decision to have children, a decision described by the textbook as one of the biggest that a couple has to make. Some research suggests that people do not weigh carefully this decision ahead of time, despite the many factors to be considered.

Benefits to parenthood include increased affection in the family, improvement in family ties, providing parents with a sense of immortality, and a sense of accomplishment. Children also bring happiness to their parents as the parents make many sacrifices to provide for the happiness of their children.

Probably the most important negative aspect of children is that it is extremely expensive to have children. One statistic noted in the book suggested that basic provision for a child can cost between two and three hundred thousand dollars, per child, for the first 17 years of the child's life. College expenses would be in addition to that amount.

Another important aspect of having children is the fact that most couples report a decline in marital satisfaction after children arrive. This flows logically from the fact that a couple will have less time and energy to spend on each other when the child/children become the focus of the home. Intimacy and passion will usually take a hit, and this can lead to marital strain.

This is not a phenomenon that is spared childless couples, however, as they also experience a decline in marital satisfaction after the early stages of marriage have passed. The benefits to being childless include more personal freedom, less financial strain, and an ability to focus more on one's partner. With many societies still viewing childless couples with negative judgment, however, being childless can lead to uncomfortable questions and evaluations from others. Additionally, being childless can naturally cause an exclusion of couples from ‘child-oriented' events (e.g., birthday parties, school events, team sports gatherings).