'Only' children in Oz

[MaraJade]

Hi everyone,

 

I am just interested to find out, from your experience, is it common in oz for parents to opt for only having one child? Due to the high cost of living and childcare this is I'm sure something a lot of parents ponder. I currently have one son of one and a half years and currently don't have any near term plans(or ever) of having another. Our family is hoping on making the move to Oz in the near future but I am concerned that even if we did decide to have another child, having more than one child would not be affordable. I realize it is a deeply personal choice for each family, but I was just wondering if having an only child is more commonplace there than in SA, so that if this was the case for my son., he would not feel like the only one in his school without siblings.

 

Thanks!

[AFreshStart]

@MaraJade

 

I can only speak from our limited experience. We live in the heart of Sydney, a 30min walk into the CBD door to door, most of the homes here are apartments.

 

Our friends that live in the area, all Australian, have only 1 child, a similar age to our eldest.

 

I know for a fact two of them are due to costs of living as we've had conversations about it.

 

On the other hand several of my sons school friends have larger family's of 3-4, but they tend to live in larger suburbs, bigger homes and commute in.

 

We have 2 kids, and by choice don't want more, and to be honest am not sure how we'd afford a third. Next year will be easier when our youngest starts school as we'll be saving thousands a year on childcare costs.

 

Hope that helps

 

Matt

[RYLC]

At our school there are some only children, some families with 4 and even 5 children.  I would say that 2 children is the most common where we are (unless they had two girls or boys and go for a third child to try for the other gender).  

 

We choose to have 2 kids (both born here) so that, as first generation children of migrants with no extended family here, they would at least have each other. They are close in age and the best of friends.

[Shellfish]

Interestingly, almost all of our friends in SA with children, have one (they are all aged 6+)  and I think this is largely financially driven. 

I have two friends in Aus with one child but I think in both cases, it was not by choice. Depending on location, socio-economic and religious circumstances, this can vary but I would say that most families have two children. My kids are at a Catholic school so there are also plenty with 4+

I wouldn't worry about it - it is what it is, and it's your choice. It's not uncommon to find couples with no children - by choice. 

[memyself]

16 hours ago, Shellfish said:

 

I wouldn't worry about it - it is what it is, and it's your choice. It's not uncommon to find couples with no children - by choice. 

??This

[NoahWi]

On 6/9/2017 at 8:35 AM, AFreshStart said:

@MaraJade

 

I can only speak from our limited experience. We live in the heart of Sydney, a 30min walk into the CBD door to door, most of the homes here are apartments.

 

Our friends that live in the area, all Australian, have only 1 child, a similar age to our eldest.

 

I know for a fact two of them are due to costs of living as we've had conversations about it.

 

On the other hand several of my sons school friends have larger family's of 3-4, but they tend to live in larger suburbs, bigger homes and commute in.

 

We have 2 kids, and by choice don't want more, and to be honest am not sure how we'd afford a third. Next year will be easier when our youngest starts school as we'll be saving thousands a year on childcare costs.

 

Hope that helps

 

Matt

I think you have the perfect number

[MaraJade]

Thanks everyone for the responses  

[Riekie]

City parents tend to have fewer kids, but out in the suburbs, they have bigger families - an average of 4-5.  I guess, when you live in the city where the apartments have fewer bedrooms you'll have fewer kids while out in the suburbs where homes have up to 5 bedrooms as a standard, you could have a bigger family. That in itself could explain the family composition in the city vs the suburbs - as soon as child nr 2 or 3 arrives, people move to the suburbs, creating the assumption that suburbians have more kids than city parents, where in actual fact, it's more a case of practicality in regards to living arrangements (if that makes any sense at all...)

 

In general, from what I've seen & experienced, Aussies have bigger families.

[Otto]

 

And here in the bush, the families can be big. I know many families with 4-5 kids. 

[SimpleSimon]

Our kids are 5 years apart. First born in RSA. Second is a true blue dinky dye Aussie (the only one of us). Reason for the gap is we never had enough money or time for a second once we landed. Eventually we said let's go for it, it will work out. It did. With 2 they keep themselves amused. With one the pressure was on us to entertain her.