How Many Children Should a Couple Have?

In my Family Relations class this week we were discussing fertility decisions like how many children a couple should have. First and foremost, children should be born within wedlock because they deserve to have a stable family. Many people agreed in my class that the number of children a couple has is a sacred decision, and that it should be between the husband, the wife, and the Lord. Many people want to wait to have children because they want to travel, finish college, concentrate on work, etc. By the time you actually want to have children, it might be too late to have more than one or two. This is why you should not wait. Many people are not able to have children so if you can you should appreciate and take advantage of that blessing if it is in the Lord's will for you. 

As past President of the LDS church Spencer W. Kimball states, "You did not come on earth just to "eat, drink and be merry." You came knowing full well your responsibilities. You came to get for yourself a mortal body that could become perfected, immortalized, and you understood that you were to act in partnership with God in providing bodies for other spirits equally anxious to come to the earth for righteous purposes. And so you will not postpone parenthood. There will be rationalists who will name to you numerous reasons for postponement. Of course, it will be harder to get your college degrees or your financial start with a family, but strength like yours will be undaunted in the face of difficult obstacles. 

"Have your family as the Lord intended. Of course it is expensive, but you will find a way, and besides, it is often those children who grow up with responsibility and hardships who carry on the world’s work. And, John and Mary, do not limit your family as the world does. I am wondering now where I might have been had my parents decided arbitrarily that one or two children would be enough, or that three or four would be all they could support, or that even five would be the limit; for I was the sixth of eleven children. Don’t think you will love the later ones less or have few material things for them. Perhaps like Jacob, you might love the eleventh one most. Young people, have your family, love them, sacrifice for them, teach them righteousness, and you will be blessed and happy all the days of your eternal lives."