The Atlantic

Dear Therapist: I Want a Second Kid. My Husband Doesn't.

How should we decide how many children are right for our family?
Source: The Atlantic

Editor’s Note: Every Monday, Lori Gottlieb answers questions from readers about their problems, big and small. Have a question? Email her at dear.therapist@theatlantic.com.

Dear Therapist,

My husband and I have been married for six years and have a 1-year-old daughter. Before we got married, we agreed that we’d like two children. Recently my husband has been saying that he only wants one child. His reasoning is we can afford a better life with just one and he thinks he will be more stressed at work supporting two kids. He also thinks our daughter is a handful as it is.

While I am so grateful to even have one child, I know I’ll be very sad and disappointed to not have another. I would like for my daughter to

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Atlantic

The Atlantic3 min read
They Rode the Rails, Made Friends, and Fell Out of Love With America
The open road is the great American literary device. Whether the example is Jack Kerouac or Tracy Chapman, the national canon is full of travel tales that observe America’s idiosyncrasies and inequalities, its dark corners and lost wanderers, but ult
The Atlantic6 min read
There’s Just One Problem With Gun Buybacks
One warm North Carolina fall morning, a platoon of Durham County Sheriff’s Office employees was enjoying an exhibit of historical firearms in a church parking lot. They were on duty, tasked with running a gun buyback, an event at which citizens can t
The Atlantic8 min readAmerican Government
The Return of the John Birch Society
Michael Smart chuckled as he thought back to their banishment. Truthfully he couldn’t say for sure what the problem had been, why it was that in 2012, the John Birch Society—the far-right organization historically steeped in conspiracism and oppositi

Related Books & Audiobooks