Parents nowadays are inclined to choose having less children than those generations above them, like their parents, grandparents, or great grandparents. Whereas those of older generations usually have more than four children, parents in this modern era generally limit their kids to only two.
Despite the widely-known problems and challenges for having a large number of offsprings, it cannot be resisted that having only few children also has its own disadvantages. There are two main problems that are going to be explained in this essay. First, less child means less help, either it is perceived from the point of view of parents or siblings. For traditional parents who do not hire any maid or household assistant, the chores are piling up every day. For a family with lots of kids, parents can share the chores between them. One can sweep the floor, one can wipe the windows, one can wash the dishes, one can do the laundry, and the others can help with the garden or mow the yard. This division system can surely make doing housework feel much lighter. Besides, in the long term, when the mother and father are old, bigger nuclear family can possibly be a bigger help, since there are lots of people in charge of nursing the elderly matriarch and patriarch. The second issue is feeling-based, where the house would feel empty once the kids grow up to be teenagers who mind their own business. Adolescent tends to be less dependent with the parents, so the living room would feel much emptier with having less kids around.
However, there are still ways to minimise the downside of having a small family. Initiating certain rules and regulations since the children were little might help in this case. For example, they are habituated to do the homework together at the living room by the supervision of the parents and building a culture of family dinner/breakfast or prohibit them to eat meals in their own room. Other than that, parents can also try injecting meaningful doctrines gently as well as showing that family is a priority. By giving examples to the kids that family means a string that cannot be broken by anger, ego, or anything, and that the whole members are the top priority for each other, the small family can be a heaven and a wonderful asset for the future.