[Antoninus]

or, they can have five or six kids and live on the financial edge -- no travel, no high end education, no financial security for the kids.

False dichotomy. There's another "or" you haven't considered:

Or, they can have five, six, ten, a dozen kids and live very modestly, instilling in their children from day one that they need to pull their own weight, help with things around the house, help with their younger siblings, and take care of each other in general. I would argue that such families are many times healthier and happier than your typical DINK couple or family with one or two kids. Why? Because selfishness is given no quarter in a large family.

[durasell]

Some people choose not to live modestly or, to put it another way, they choose not to live to the limit of their financial resources by having a lot of kids.


I can't fault them for this.