Author Topic: Average Family Size (Read 3481 times)

Änσnymσus · « **Reply #5 on:** September 14, 2018, 06:49:02 PM »

My great-great grandparents were married 1863. I believe my grandmother was maybe 23 years of age. They had 8 children every 2 and a half years, almost 3 years. All were healthy and no child mortality. I think that is fantastic, health wise, for those times. I have the family portrait of 1888. I wonder is abstaining was not unusual. That makes common sense to me., if both agree to it.

I had godparents that had martial relations, just for children. They had 5, in 1950. I think they were of a 3rd order. ?

Matthew · « **Reply #6 on:** September 14, 2018, 10:14:45 PM »

Don't buy into the hype that the Middle Ages were dark, that people didn't bathe, and the average lifespan was half what it is today. I think some people actually believe the average person expected to live to 38 years old back then. No, it's just that infant mortality brought the average way down. If you survived childhood, you'd live about as long as you could expect to live today.

But nevertheless, the late 1800's were not the middle ages. Cities -- at least in 1st world countries -- dealt with sewage in a proper manner, and generally had good hygiene by that point.

Änσnymσus · « **Reply #7 on:** September 15, 2018, 08:38:03 AM »

Quote from: Anonymous on September 14, 2018, 02:26:05 PM

With modern infant mortality rate and fertility, if everyone dropped birth control and NFP, how many children would people have? This is with the natural space of time that a woman is not fertile due to breastfeeding and according to the WHO ideally she should be doing that for a year at least. How many supersized Duggar families, 7-8 families, 2-3 etc.?

My husband and I got married in our early twenties, never practiced NFP and we’ve only had six children. We’ve had a few miscarriages unfortunately and being in our mid forties now, don’t expect any more children as I am going through the early stages of menopause.
So we are actually quite grateful never having practiced NFP, because if we had spaced our first ones we may have only had two or three children because our later years have been less fruitful.

I do know of a few young Catholic couples trying to conceive but without success so far. One couple even spending thousands of dollars to increase their fertility. Another couple suffering multiple miscarriages in a row.

Another thing I noticed is when visiting my children’s pediatrician the other day, he was discussing with the nurse the number of children he has (two little ones so far) and when asked by her why he hasn’t had another child in a couple of years he said, ‘we’ll it’s not like we haven’t tried.’ Now I know he is Protestant but even he is openly discussing the struggle to conceive.

I’m just putting my experiences out there as an example of some trying to have children but without success. Seems to be more often than not these days because I knew so many big families growing up and now there are so few. And I’ve also found that it isn’t always on purpose.

Änσnymσus · « **Reply #8 on:** September 15, 2018, 10:52:21 AM »

Quote from: Matthew on September 14, 2018, 04:30:57 PM

And I agree with most of the preceding post, except for the implication that getting married in one's 30's is enabled by the consequence-free fornication that only birth control can provide.

The American economy has changed, our culture has changed, the maturity expected of a child at age ___ has changed, and so on. It's easy for youths to be employed when 95% of the economy is agriculture. But what about more advanced economies, with jobs that require skills? Either one needs a degree to be qualified for a job, or at least the education required to be able to work in a given profession.

Even if degrees were mostly bunk, I don't think most 16 year olds could write software professionally, or do any other professional job for that matter. You have to learn somehow, and it takes time. And children need to spend their school days on the basic well-rounded education, which only allows so much time for hobbies, side subjects, and side projects.

Basics like farming and homemaking are "free" if the child is raised practicing these arts. But modern careers require more schooling -- on one's own and/or in a formal setting.

But even when the man's career is set, then young couples have to find each other. It's not easy. Traditional Catholics are so spread out. And even some Trads at your local chapel can be quite unsuitable -- they might have social, emotional, spiritual, physical, or psychological issues. And some might be Trad in name only. And even a young man and a young woman at a Trad chapel might be healthy in every way -- but just not be suited for each other. That happens too. You are comfortable with what you're used to, etc.

So finding a suitable spouse often takes time measured in years.

This is all true of course, but I was talking about the scenario of the average irreligious American giving up birth control, etc. For them there is no drought of eligible marriage candidates since they don't care about the beliefs of who they marry, and if women were to be getting pregnant every year then they'd likely drop out of the workforce again, opening up so many jobs that men could once again find good steady employment in their early 20s.

Miseremini · « **Reply #9 on:** September 15, 2018, 12:02:10 PM »

When reading recent obituaries, I notice that the average family size for people 90-100 years old was 6 siblings.. Occasionally, the deceased had 7 to 9 siblings but that doesn't seem to be common in my area.
More than 10 is very rare.

CathInfo.com

Author Topic: Average Family Size (Read 3481 times)

Änσnymσus

Re: Average Family Size

Matthew

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Änσnymσus

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Änσnymσus

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Miseremini

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