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It's not reduced fertility, it is much better birth control.
Some of it is reduced fertility though, at least on the male side. There is a lot of evidence that points to male sperm count cratering compared to 30-40 years ago.
My great-grandparents on my mother's side had TWELVE children. My grandmother was the oldest (she was a twin, but her sister died at six months of pneumonia). A little brother died of diphtheria. A baby sister died at aged two of a broken neck when the high chair she was sitting in tipped over (family legend was that the older children were climbing on it). My great-grandfather died in an accident when my grandmother was 15, and my great-grandmother was pregnant with the twelfth and youngest sibling. Had he not died, there would probably have been several more children.
My grandfather on my father's side was one of 5. His was the first generation born in America after immigrated from the UK. My grandmother on my father's side was one of 3 (her mother, who immigrated from Wales, died young of high blood pressure/kidney complications). My mother was one of four children (the oldest sibling was a half brother born out of wedlock, whose origin wasn't discussed with us kids). We saw him regularly and were very fond of him, though...he wasn't ostracized or anything like that. He was raised by his grandmother.
I'm one of 3...I have twin siblings (twins obviously run in the family), brothers who never married or had children. I have two daughters, one of whom has two sons (my grandsons). The oldest grandson is the result of a sperm donor...son in law was tested and found to be "infertile". Two years later they unexpectedly successfully conceived and delivered my youngest grandson. Tests can be wrong.
My youngest daughter (age 27) doesn't want children.
My father was one of 3 boys...one of his brothers married and had two sons, the other didn't marry or have children. Through the generations on my father's side, there have been many uncles (and aunts) who never married or had children. Youngest daughter (like my brothers) is carrying out this tradition.
Last edited by Mrs. Skeffington; 03-06-2019 at 02:52 AM..
My grandparents were all born between 1895 and 1905. No idea of paternal grandparents family size. Maternal grandfather 1of 2 children, maternal grandmother one of 5 (all girls)
Paternal grandparents had 10 children, 8 of which survived to adulthood. Each of those had on average 3+ children. Those children had on average 2, and their children probably average less than that.
Similar results for maternal grandparents - they had 7, all of whom survived to adulthood.
From an economic perspective, children are an "inferior good" - the more money you have the less of them you want.
I have two brothers and one sister. My brothers each had one kid, my sister none. I have five. So 4 became 7.
My Dad is 1 of 11. 3 died just after birth. He and his siblings have 4;6; 2;4;2;1;3;2. So 9 became 24. Of the grand-kids (my generation) almost all of us have kids. Only a few have more than two. there are a number of great grand-kids too. there are more than 50 living descendants of Grandma and Grandpa, less than 100 I think. We have a lot of odd family drama (A child molester, a drunk, a couple of drug addicts, a suicide, forever changing gender/sexual preference before it was popular, high school pregnancies, runaways, also some doctors, lawyers and national champions in various sports. we have it all). Maybe all families do.
Last edited by Coldjensens; 03-13-2019 at 11:49 AM..
My dad's side of the family is Catholic, yet there are no huge families in the family tree I have that goes back to the 1750s. My dad had a large family around him, but they were extended family.
My dad (b.1931) was 1 of 4 kids, my mom (b.1939) was 1 of 2.
They had 4 kids
My generation has 3,3,2,1.
Two of my siblings are grandparents so far - with 1 and 2. That generation (my daughter's) is very spread out in age - from 11-40, so there could very well be more grandkids in years to come.
I came from a family of four kids and my wife came from a family of five. All I had to do was cast her a smouldering glance and WHAM she was pregnant. After #3 came along in five years, I hied myself to a urologist for the snip.
I don’t know about my grandparents on my dad’s side, but my mom’s mom had 4 siblings and my mom’s dad had 5, although one died very young.
My dad was one of three and my mom was one of two (both born right after WWII). My mom’s mother was a physician who worked during the war and was in her mid-30s before starting a family. My dad’s mom was a nurse. My sister and I only have one between us. I have six cousins and among us, there are only 7 kids. Half of us do not have any children and I think that only the youngest, who is almost 28 is still considering marriage/kids. Everyone else is 35+ and either seems to have had all the kids they want to have or be too old for kids.
My parents were each one of 10, dad had 3 full and 6 half siblings. For generations 2 and 3 (counting from grandparents) the fertility rate has fallen off a cliff. Several aunts or uncles have far fewer grand children than children (one aunt had 5 children and only 1 grandchildren). On mom's side I'd guess the fertility rate is now below 1 child per woman. I am one of 5 and we combine for only 3 children. But my wife's family still has couples with 2 or 3 kids each.
My father was 1 of 3,my mother 1 of 4. My mother had 5. Her 5 kids are in order
Older brother- 5 kids
Older sister- 1 kid
Me-5 kids with 5th due in November
Younger brother-3 kids
Younger sister-2 kids.
Everywhere I look where I live I see YOUNG mostly working class families with at least 3 and 4 kids...its beautiful. People get so shocked when we tell them we are pregnant with #5. Happened yesterday in Motherhood Maternity...like its some bad thing to have a large family.
My wife and I are only children. We currently have b/g twins, but hoping for more.
My dad was 1 of 2. His dad was 1 of 5 and his mom was an only child.
My mom was 1 of 4. Her parents were both 1 of 2, although her father had another sibling who was stillborn as well, so it could have been three.
Needless to say , I want at least 1 more, if not 2.
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