60% of American families report that 2 or fewer children is the ideal family size. So why do the majority of Americans want two children? This article will show 15 reasons parents might want to stop at two kids.

As someone who at one point wanted no kids and another point wanted 9, I wrote this with humor in mind. Children are both a blessing and a challenge. It takes a certain finesse to raise just one. Add two or more kids to a happy household and a certain amount of luck, magic and grace are needed.

The parents of large families have an aptitude for dauntless and abnegation –they are brave and selfless. How could it be any other way raising a gaggle of children?

Today, the majority of Americans think the ideal family has two children. In the 1970s, most people thought four or more children was ideal. Why such a big change over the last 40 years?

There are many factors that go into the decision of family size. Expense is the number one reason why families are opting for less children. It costs about $100,000 more than it did in the 1970s to raise a child today.

Not only are kids are more expensive, but our lifestyle demands are going up as well. New houses are on average 1000 square feet larger than they were in the 1970s, but Americans want more space and fewer kids. Housing accounts for the number one cost of raising a child, followed by education and food.

Parents consider many factors when deciding on family size. These 15 reasons go beyond simple expenses, religious beliefs or preferences. Find out what else has to be considered when having more than two kids.

15 Parents Have To Use A Zone Defense When There's More Than Two Kids

When you just have two children (and a significant other to help) you can use a simple man-to-man defense. One parent is assigned to one child. Each adult is only responsible for chasing around one child at a time. Once you have three or more children you have to move to a zone defense.

Instead of covering just one child, you have to cover a whole area. Maybe you take the downstairs while your significant other takes the upstairs. You'll rarely see your ally because your both covering different areas. Maybe after the team is asleep (whenever that might happen) you can reunite in a common area.

But the kids will figure out your system soon enough. You might find candy wrappers on the stairs or the Ipad in a closet. They'll identify your zones and find the weakness in the system. If the adults are only covering certain areas, there's bound to be a child that figures it out and starts sneaking to the fringe to mow down on candy.

14 Mom And Dad Will Be Outnumbered

You might want to stop at two kids for the simple fact that at three you’ll be outnumbered. Kids are super smart. It won’t take them long to figure out that there’s power in numbers.

Some kids you can trick for a while because you’re bigger than them. They think that just because you look enormous (to them from the ground level of course) you hold more power. But other kids are a little more savvy than that.

Something happens once a child realizes that they can actually refuse to do anything. The simple act of sitting silently but refusing to move, or limp-bodying themselves to the floor or heaven forbid relentlessly screaming can cause mom or dad to cave like a snow fort in July.

As the literal bigger person, you can move them here or there, but there's a lot you can’t make them do (for example how do you make someone swallow, or read, or talk?) If one child figures this out, you’re screwed.

If two or three figure this out, you’re really screwed. Ahh…those independent thinkers, we say we want it, but then they turn out to be so...smart…and…independent.

And I didn’t even mention what happens when the kiddos start strategizing together. Think this one through, it could get ugly.

13 The Family Will Need A Bigger Vehicle

Unless you already drive a van, having more than two children will probably mean that you need a bigger vehicle. At least you’ll need a full sized car or something with a third row. That is only, of course, if you would like to space your kids out a little bit instead of having them close together and picking on each other.

If you don’t want a big vehicle then you might have to trade in your car seats for low profile car seats. I have actually seen a mom fit three kids in the back of her Ford Focus. It can be done, but there isn’t much room for anything else.

If you’re trading up from a car to a van you might have an identity crisis. Now you’re the soccer mom driving a van. Just give it a couple weeks. You’ll soon realize that vans are roomy and comfortable. Add a dvd player and power doors and you’ll be in love.

12 The House Will Need Another Bathroom

Having more than two kids will probably mean that you’ll need another bathroom in your house. Maybe not right at first. But eventually you’ll have a lot of people trying to get around at the same time. At first it will be glorious that everyone will be able to get around at the same time (and don’t have to be dressed by you personally).

But basking in that glory won’t last long. You’ll find that everyone wants a long, hot shower. Someone needs to shave. Someone needs to style. Someone needs to curl.

It will get really busy and crowded really quickly. Not to mention the equipment that everyone will need and spread out across the counter.

Two bathrooms will probably be a bare minimum. Three or more is probably what you’ll need depending on how many kids you want to have. When everyone’s pooping in diapers it probably won’t seem like a necessity. This is something to plan for in the long run. Plus new bathrooms can be pretty pricey, so you’ll want to start saving early.

11 There Might Be An Odd Man Out Situation

I used to think that three children would be the perfect number. I came from a family with three kids and it seemed to work out okay. Then, my sister-in-law (who has three kids) pointed out that with three someone is almost always the odd man out.

It’s pretty natural for two kids to play together easily. Two kids can fit together at a play kitchen. Two kids can play dolls together in an agreed upon imaginary setting. If the two can’t agree on what to play, then they play by themselves. End of story.

With three you add a whole other dynamic. It now is harder to come to a consensus about what to play or how to play. If two agree but the third won’t concede, the two will go off to play and leave the third one out. They might not do it on purpose, but the third will probably feel left out.

It’s a different dynamic when two people are playing together with the third on their own instead of everyone just doing their own thing. In the wise words of my sister-in-law, “You can have two or you can have four, but when you have three someone is always left out.”

10 Parents Will Have To Bring A Friend To Amusement Parks

This point is really one based on strategy. With just two children, you have the perfect number to ride a roller coaster together. Two parents and two kids –everyone has a partner.

If you decide to have three kids, you’ll have to bring a friend along to amusement parks. Otherwise one person will get stuck riding a thrilling ride (that you just waited in line 2 hours for) next to a stranger. It really takes away from the experience.

Then you’ll have to decide who gets to bring a friend. Does just one child get to bring a friend? Does every child bring a friend? Do you find just one lone cousin to bring? The current price of a basic Cedar Point ticket (no skip the line features) is $65! Plus once you get in a bottle of water will be at least $5. Adding just one friend starts to get pretty pricey.

9 When The Kids Start To Drive, There'll Be Too Many Cars

How many cars you have doesn’t matter so much when your kids are in preschool, but once they start to get into high school it will make a big difference. Follow me on this one.

When your children start driving, will each one of them get a car? Kevin’s going to work. Sam’s going to a friend’s house. David has basketball. Amanda has cheerleading and so on. Everyone has somewhere different to be at different times.

So if you plan on just having three kids, plus you and a spouse, you’re looking at 5 cars. Where will you park all of these cars? Who’s paying for insurance? What about gas?

Five or more cars at one house…it just starts to get obnoxious. But I’m not your neighbor.

Of course they could always share a car or you could drive them everywhere. That sounds like fun, refereeing a battle over who gets to drive the car.

8 Probably Can't Dine In A Restaurant Booth

I love sitting at a booth at a restaurant. They’re more comfortable and private. It just feels cozy.

But when you have more than four in your family, chances are you won’t fit in a booth any more. Unless, that is, someone is going to pull up a chair and sit on the end.

I was the youngest in a family of 5 so I always got the end seat. It doesn’t have the cozy feel of actually sitting in the booth. Plus, the seat they just pulled up for you is in an aisle. That means that every waitress that goes by or person trying to make it to the bathroom is squeezing around you, and more than likely elbowing you in the head. I love to get elbowed in the head.

So if you’re a huge fan of sitting in a booth at a restaurant think this one through. Your family won’t fit there anymore.

7 People Are Always Staring And Watching

When you’re pregnant, people seem to take notice of you. People can’t help it they just love a pregnant woman. But luckily pregnancy doesn’t last long and before you know it you go back to being a blend-into-the-crowd sort of person.

But when your family reaches about four or five children, that won’t happen anymore. You won’t be able to blend into the crowd—like ever again. You’ll become a circus side show.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love big families. I think they’re adorable and amusing to watch. I just can’t take my eyes off of them…umm, kind of like a circus sideshow.

People won’t be able to help themselves. They won’t just be watching. They’ll have all sorts of “original” comments like, “Are you going for a baseball team?” or “Are you Catholic?” Many people seem to lose their filter when then see a large family.

Don’t worry, in twenty or twenty five years your kids will start to move out and you can blend into the crowd again. But by that time you’ll be used to it!

6 Happiness Doesn't Increase With Each Child

A study done by the journal Demography found interesting responses from parents expecting and just having babies. The first baby came with much excitement from parents in Germany and the UK. The new parents felt soaring happiness after the birth of the first baby.

Still excited for baby number two, parents reported feeling happy but only half as happy as they did the first time around.

By the time the mom or couple have a third child, the effect on their feeling of happiness is "negligible."

This seems to be sad news for baby number 3. After life returned to normal after each baby was born the parents usually returned to their normal state of happiness or even declined in happiness.

The researchers also found a link between age and feelings of happiness. Older parents had the largest increase in happy feelings with teens feeling the least happy and sometimes even less happy than before.  Parents aged 35 years and older felt the biggest increase in happiness and happiness levels tended to stay higher longer following the birth of baby.

5 Kids Are Expensive

Kids are expensive. At first it doesn’t seem too bad. Sure diapers are kind of expensive but not over the top. Then you add in child care, lessons, clothes, holidays, birthday parties.

The DailyMail reported that parents spend an average of $450 on each child’s birthday party (we're talking just the location, cake, decorations and so on) plus another $250 on presents. That’s for each child, each year.

And we haven’t even gotten to the big ticket items like private education, cars and college.

It's estimated that it will cost just over $300,000 to raise the average American baby to the age of 18. That’s pretty expensive. And that’s assuming you won’t help at all with college or other living expenses after they turn 18 (but they can be on your insurance until they're 26!)

Kids really are expensive and it’s making parents think twice about having large families.

4 Mom And Dad Will Need A Bigger House

Depending on how big your house is now and how large your family will be, having more than two kids might mean that you’ll need a bigger house. Two kids can pretty easily fit anywhere. They could even share a room if need be. But three or more gets a little tricky.

Other than number of bedrooms in a house, you’ll need more space for a larger family to dine, live and play. A larger dining room, larger living room, larger family room or basement are some of the additional features parents of big families look for—beyond just more bedrooms and bathrooms.

The average size of new, single family homes built in the US is just over 2600 square feet. That’s over 1000 square feet larger than new homes built in the 1970s. American families are already trending toward larger homes although the family size continues to decrease.

Surprisingly, in the 1970s most people thought having four or more children was ideal and today most people think 2.5 is best. Seems like we're trading bigger houses for fewer children. Maybe that’s how people are affording the bigger houses!

3 Family Vacations Break The Bank

Family vacations can be so much fun. They create peak life experiences and expose the kiddos to the US or even the world. There are so many places to explore. Unfortunately, the price of the vacation rises dramatically with each additional child.

The cost of family vacations increase with more people regardless of your plans, but especially so if you plan on flying. The average domestic fare is just under $400 per person and international flights cost an average of just under $1000 per person. Is that why my parents jammed us into a car and drove for 24 hours to Florida?

But that’s just getting there. Once you’ve arrived at your destination you have lodging, meals, amusement park fees, museum entries, the list goes on and on. For just one child to get into Disney World for one day it costs $89, and you haven’t even bought your Mickey ears yet.

2 No Middle Child

The dreaded and unfortunate middle child. I’m really sorry if you were the middle child—never the star and always overlooked. The world’s woes can probably be traced back to some fighting-for-attention middle child.

Okay, it’s probably not that bad being the middle child. More and more research is showing that birth order really has little effect on a person. But you avoid the question all together with just two children (we’re not even going to touch on “only” children!) If you go over three children, though, you get a lot of middle children. My dad was one of six.

Does that mean there were four middle children forever blaming their life’s mistakes on being in the middle? That seems pretty extreme.

With two you just have the all-star first child (because every single thing she did was photographed and sent via press release to CNN) and the ever-adored youngest (because you do everything you can to keep them a baby longer and spoil them with everything you thought would ruin your first).

Keep it simple. You won’t have a middle child blaming birth order on why they keep messing up. Instead they’ll go straight to the source and blame you.

1 Parents May Start To Lose Their Mind After A While

Let’s face it; lots of parents are stopping after having two children because you just start to lose your mind after a while. With one kid you didn’t know what you were doing, but eventually you got the basics down. Then you decide to add another. This time you also don’t know what you’re doing, but you don’t care anymore well…because you don’t have time to.

I have a 1 year old and a 3 year old. They consistently run. In. Opposite. Directions. Of course it only matters when we leave the house which seems to be when they love to do it the most. I grab one, then the other, compose myself again just when someone turns to Jell-O and goes limp-bodied onto the floor.

I can see why so many people stop at two children. They like maintaining some sanity. But a lot of people say it’s a breeze to add more after two. It’s just getting the courage up to do it.

Sources: DailyMail, US Census, PEW Research Center, Smithsonian