Monday, April 9, 2012

The Latest

New York, 2012
New York, 2012

Had a regular doctor's checkup (all fine in babyland) and then walked up through Soho to Union Square for a few errands today.

Got home and put my feet up. Saw baby's thumps from the outside for the first time. Some days are much more active than others, but I am definitely feeling some action every day now.

Also got a kick out of (ha, get it!) this week's New Yorker. One article, "The Case Against Kids" cites the book Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids, by Bryan Caplan.

The piece explains his thinking: "Kids are a pain in the ass when they're small. They require lots of care just at the time their parents tend to be busiest establishing themselves in their careers. As a result, most people stop producing children before they've reached the number that would, over the long haul, maximize their self-interest."

Caplan asserts that the perfect number of children (short term pain versus long term gain) is three. He also argues that genes trump environment, so once you have the the kids in the bag, you don't have to worry as much as you might think about being the perfect alpha parent. Chances are, he says, they'll be just fine.

As an only child, I've always been envious of large families, and Will, one of four, loves the idea of a tribe. So is 3 the magic number?

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