Mark Dolliver's Takes: Lovely Kids

If children aren’t actually going out of style, it’s easy to see why one might think they are: The size of the typical family has been shrinking, and people spend more of their lifetimes in kid-free households (due to marrying later and living longer). Still, a Gallup poll finds few adults view a child-free family as ideal, and there’s a large constituency favoring large families.

Overall, 1 percent of adults think the ideal number of kids for a family to have is no kids at all.