I love having four children, but every once in a while I encounter someone who is critical of my big family, and rude enough to tell me. It is irresponsible, they say, to have more than two kids, which is the “right” number because that replaces my husband and myself on the planet when we die. More than two takes up too much of the world’s resources; what is more, some people argue that it is too difficult to control more than a couple of offspring, and/or that children from a smaller family get more parental attention and do better academically.All of this, as far as I am concerned, is complete nonsense. The birth rate in Britain is currently declining, with the average number of children per woman at less than two (1.85); so if a small minority of couples choose to hav