I'm Being Selfish for a Good Cause!

I stumbled across a link to this book on Instapundit the other day and I was immediately intrigued:

I googled it and found the website for the book, curious to see what would be the author's argument for having a bigger family. (Obviously, I am not against larger families, but I wanted to see what this guy had to say about it.)

It sounds like Bryan Caplan lays out in his book all this research to show why being a parent isn't nearly as hard as we make it out to be. I'm just guessing, since I haven't read the book, but I expect that he is going to refer to studies that show that who we grow up to be has everything to do with biology and little to do with our environment (the old "nature vs. nurture" debate). While I'm a tad bit skeptical of this conclusion (my kids say the exact same obnoxious things that I do and I don't think that is genetic behavior popping out), I'd be grateful for any scientific research that tells me I don't have to feel so guilty about my parenting falling short.

Unfortunately, I don't have any extra book-buying cash at the moment. There is one library in our county network that has the book, but I already tried to request it, and apparently the library that has it won't lend it out. So I'd have to drive an hour to that branch and check it out there. Not going to happen. Oh well.

I did read the excerpt from the book on his website. One part of the introduction made me think for a little bit:

"[P]eople are not having enough children for their own good. Prospective parents need to take another look before they decide not to leap. Current parents need to take another look before they decide not to leap again.

"My theory is not one-size-fits-all. The claim is not that everyone should have lots of kids, but that the average person should have more kids. More than what? More than they were otherwise planning to have. If you live in a tiny urban apartment and love fancy foreign vacations, this might mean one kid instead of zero. If you live in a suburban McMansion and love theme parks, this might mean five kids instead of three. I’m here to provide information,not run your life."

Hmmm. Technically, I'm already in the process of leaping again (for the fifth-- or ninth, depending on how you count it-- time). I wonder what the author would like people like me to consider? Originally, we wanted six kids, then in the process of actually trying to do this parenting thing we revised it down to four, and now we are about to become the parents to five. Should we reconsider that sixth kid after all? Or maybe push it up to eight, since our original goal of six may have not been enough for our own good?

(I'm smiling as I write this. I'm not remotely considering eight kids, Mom, I promise!)

I kind of wish we owned a suburban McMansion though. It would making fitting our family of seven under one roof more comfortable!