Just out of curiousity what makes some of you want a large family and what makes some of you just decide to stop at lets just say two or tops three kids?
And to the ones with larger familys what makes you continue to have more than four children and whats your cut off when you decide thats enough no more babies? For me I guess having 5 and a half its because I was an only child and I wanted a large famiy since I never had any siblings or anything like that. And call this a stereo type but alot of Italian and Hispanic folks came from really large familys that were tight knit and I like that and kind of wanted to keep that going with my own family.

We have 5 now. I think we wanted a large family because our own extended family kind of sucks and we want our kids to have each other and not worry about cousins and all. (that may sound a little nuts). We really love our kids, we love spending time with them and the more the merrier. Saying that, we would have never added the last 2 if we couldn't afford them and not have to go without. The last thing we wanted was to have th older 3 feel like they were missing out because we added the babies to the family. That's just us, but it was important.

And according to Billy, I'm Catholic, so there ya go!

We have "only" 4 kids, but for us that is a lot. Jerm and I both come from a family of 4 (2 parents, 2 kids), so this is quite different for the both of us. We only planned on 2, and the last 2 were great surprises. If we could afford more and had more room, I would have more. Alas, Jerm cut me off, or I should say, the urologist cut HIM off!

I was raised in a single parent home with 4 kids ... there was never enough of anything ... so I had always felt like I only wanted 2 kids. I was blessed with a 3rd not long after I became a single mother and although we are making it, we are stretched thin. I had a tubal this past winter and it was the right decision for me.

I want at least 3 kids, I was an only child and I was sometimes lonely so I myself want to have a large family

I love large families. I always wanted 4 or 5 kids minimum. We are blessed to have 8 with another on the way. It gets crazy here but I love it.

I was one of two and that always seemed like enough. We might have had more, but age and health were the strongest factors in our decision to only have two. I was 41 when my youngest was born. If I am like my mother, I would have remained fertile into my late 50s, if I had not had my tubes tied. I don't really want to be raising teenagers in my 70s. My dad was a teen when his dad was well into his 70s and it wasn't a fun teenhood. During my senior years, I just want to be a senior. Selfish, perhaps, but it is something to think about if you are in your 40s and considering having babies.

I don't think I could handle more than two, and like Dana said, I want to be able to afford the ones I have, and two is reasonable for us. Plus, I was almost 37 when I had Travis, and like Lenora said, I don't want to be 70 with a teenager!

I know! I'll be 61 when Cara is 20! I'll be 59 when she turns 18. I don't even want to think about that!

I'll be 54 when Emily is 20 and I'll be 57 when Travis is 20! I guess we can look on the bright side, we can use our senior citizen discounts to buy them clothes and things for their dorms at college!

I'm kind of excited about the fact that I'll only be 45 (ish) when my youngest leaves the nest.

My mom has nine kids. I am number 3 of those nine! 6 girls and 3 boys!! And I believe she would have another if she turned up preggos..Me personally want 2 three tops! I grew up in a big family and it was great and you had plenty to talk to and lean on but it was so many that you waited for stuff and shared rooms even in high school and stuff like that!! so thats why i would rather keep it small to me small familes can go more places for less money!!

KWYM - I saw a woman I know coming out of a movie theater with her husband and six young children. She was several months pregnant with #7. I thought, "that has got to cost a bundle." It wasn't a matinee either. Not that they couldn't afford it or anything. But with 8 people and no half price for kids (kids pay full price after age 2 here), that comes up to $56 before popcorn and drinks. Yikes! I thought paying full price for four was rough!

If I couldn't afford it I would have stopped, so I see the point about money. We are doing very well, and having 9 kids will put no financial strain on us at all. My kids do have to share rooms but I don't think they 'need' privacy anyway. Teenagers get into trouble with to much alone time. My kids spend almost no time stuck in their bedrooms anyway. We are planning to buy a bigger house in the next few years though. When we bought this one we had 4 kids and didn't expect to have more than one more. We're thinking a hobby farm so we can have horses would be fun, or a house on the lake.

We all went out to dinner last month at Bucca. Costed over $200 but we did pay for my BIL and his wife as well. Outings are expensive but DH makes good money and it's not really a big deal. Perhaps it wasn't a big deal for that family either.

I only ever wanted 2 kids, even when I was growing up. And that's what I have. Besides, i don't think I could handle more than 2. I'm having serious problems with Drew these days and I hate to think of the attention Ally doesn't get simply becasue everything is focused on Drew these days. If we had more, it would be worse.

I grew up in a family of 5kids, so there is lot of fun and at the same time there is less in every thing. You need to share and think about others so i believe 3 kids will be enough for me.

The babies are enough when you don't have enough money to care for them because babies are related with a lot of cash even when they become big.