Should I have a second or third child, and what are the pros and cons of such an important decision? I talked about how to make sense of these second child pros and cons in my short talk for the Museum of Motherhood annual conference earlier this year in St. Petersburg, Florida. Watch here, or just listen as you would to a podcast:
Here are some useful timestamps for the video:
0:30 – Pressures of pronatalism for 2nd child
2:00 – How to turn anxiety into curiosity
3:50 – What do you want from having a 2nd child?
4:42 – Don’t be hard on yourself
5:22 – Other social and environmental pressures
8:12 – All decisions involve loss: how to manage
9:41 – What else is important to you before you die?
10:42 – Refuting common one-child-family myths
13:21 – Other fun strategies to help you decide
19:30 – What if your partner disagrees with you?
21:15 – Helpful books and online resources
23:09 – Take joy in your decision making!
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What other questions do you have?
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What’s been your experience with your first child, and what worries you most about having a second child? What pressures have you faced about it, whether from yourself or from others?
Do you also have other questions that I can help you address? How can I help you make the right choice for you? Reach out to me via my online contact form, or in our private Facebook group The Decision Café, or on any of my social media pages: Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter/X.
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Want to learn more?
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I will be writing more in-depth about the topics I touched on in this video in my new book, expected in 2025. You can preview some of these topics and techniques if you subscribe to my free, quarterly email newsletter. In each issue, I’ll share a sneak peek excerpt that only newsletter readers can see! So if you haven’t yet, be sure to subscribe now here or in the signup box below.
After you’ve done that, I invite you to catch up on my previous baby decision blog posts here. — including more Q&A topics in my “Ask Merle” series, and common myths that I bust in my series “Myth-Busting with Merle.”
Please enjoy those resources, engage with me, and be empowered to make the best decisions for you!
– Merle Bombardieri
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