Determining The Perfect Family Size

MIAMI (CBS4) – For some couples, trying to determine how many children they should have leads to a lot of questions and even some frustration.

"Possibly two, but we are debating right now what to do about the second baby," Joy Longhino-Tokar told CBS4's Cynthia Demos at a prenatal plus yoga class.

"Maybe four if I can convince my husband," said first time mother Sary Cohen.

But is bigger better? Dr. Alan Singer said when parents with three, four or five children were asked what they felt the ideal number of children to have was, one third replied two.

"Marital satisfaction tends to decrease with each child," said Singer.

Singer found in doing research for his book that most people said they thought they should have the same number of kids their parents raised.

"That's a big mistake," said Singer, "A big mistake."

Singer said what is more important is that parents ask themselves how they deal children mentally. Some find it an amazing experience while others find it overwhelming.

After listening to Singer, Longhino-Tokar said she was re-thinking having a second child.

"Maybe one baby is all we can handle at this point because we have to put our marriage first," said Longhino-Tokar.

And Cohen?

"I think three, or maybe only two," said Cohen.

So what is the perfect size? Singer says as many or as few, as long as you think it through.