1. Is it better to have small or big family ? An argumentative topic which has
many different opinions . Thoughts and beliefs from ages to now in Egypt . Since
ancient times , Egyptions believed to have big families is a way to increase the
population which will increase Egypt’s progress and development . Now times and
circumstances have changed . It is better now to reduce the population not to
increase it through having small families for better progress . As the conditions
especially economic conditions are not as before but even worse . As mentioned
before it is an opinionated topic , so some people now a days support having
small families and they have their reasons . On the other hand , others encourage
having big families though its many disadvantages . Nuclear family is required to
ensure better qualities of life : financially , educationally , and emotionally .
First financially , Egypt’s economy is deteriorating over time . There is a
rapid population increase that overcome that of the economy . ( Egypt’s
population still increase each year by approximately 1.5 million . ”The United
Nations Projections indicate that the population will grow from 62.3 million in
1995 to 95.6 million by 2026 and will reach 114.8 million before it stabilizes in the
year 2065” )(United Nations.1998) . High fertility can enforce costly loads on
Egypt ; it can retard economic development , and economy is very important for
many things to purchase a family such as quality of life in education and nutrition.
So the size of the family controls the way and level of living . As the lesser the
members in a family as the better the way and higher the level of living the family
is going to live in . Because of economic problems in Egypt , both parents have to
work for the inadequate salary of one to meet the requirements of the family and
even though the two parents are working ; their salaries would still be insufficient
to fulfill their requirements . In such a case which is the dominant case in Egypt ,
small families are much better than big ones . At least in small family parents
would be able to enroll their children to superior high quality schools giving them
the best education , to fulfill not only the needs such as food and clothes , but
also their desires and wishes , and to meet all their health and financial care . If a
large family is in this situation and most of them are , parents would not be able
to meet any of these requirements except for the sufficient ones such as food and

2. clothes , other than those they would not be able to afford them any special thing
such as high education education . Moreover families with fewer children may
have excessive income to save or bank roll it for the future . (khalifa , etc. , 2000) .
To reach the content of what was said previously , small families are more reliable
to endure now a days in Egypt’s economic problems than do big families . So
“High fertility causes poverty and that the lower fertility is the key to reducing
povert” (TR , 1976 , p.132) . So small families are preferable to secure better
financial life qualities .
Supplementary to education , having more than 2-3 kids will not only affect
their education , but also other children’s education . Lets start first by how
having many kids will affect their own education . As mentioned before ,
education is related to money . If parents have many kids , they will not be able to
afford good education for them as if they had fewer children . By this parents “will
end up depriving their kids the opportunity to pursue further studies”(Bradely ,
ND) . This is the part related to money , what about the Parent’s attention and
care . Parents raising many kids are left with dispirit mission of disciplining them ,
it is like teaching an over-crowded classroom where only few listen and obey .
(Bradely , ND) . So how are they going to pay attention to each of their children’s
studies and education ; it is almost an impossible task . Children in small families
tend to have higher school achievement levels than do children in larger families ,
as their parents pay more attention to their progress in school , ask their teachers
about their attitude and educational level every now and then , and provide them
quite stable studying environment unlike in big families . In big families a stressful
, noisy and troubled environment is the only available one , so normally children
in big families tend to have lower school achievements because of the previously
mentioned reasons . As mentioned before , parents who favor to have many kids
are not only affecting their children , but also other’s children . When small
families become the dominant , the population will be reduced . And reducing the
number of children in a population will trim the load on schools , resulting in
better teaching what is more important children’s better educational progress .
“A recent projection estimated that there would be 3.8 million fewer primary

3. students in 2026 if current if current fertility trends continue than there would be
if fertility rate were to remain at its current level . This change could reduce the
primary class size , which was 44 per class in 1994-1995 , and combined with
increase in public expenditure should lead to improvements in the quality of
education .” (Khalifa,etc.,1999,2000) . To sum what were mentioned above , the
previous reasons show that those who prefer big families do not only affect their
own children’s education , but also other kids’ education.
People who totally oppose the idea of having small families argue that it is
way a better to live and to be raised in big families . They claim that to have just
one or two children , parents will become over protective making the children
eager to be separated from them . They believe that having many relatives
provide an individual support and secure whenever it is needed. However such
an opinion can be easily refuted . In big families parents will not be able to pay
attention and care equally of their frequent children . As mentioned before
because of financial issues in Egypt both parents will have to work , so they
already missing out on quality time . Having more kids will demand it to parents
to attend their many different aged kids’ schools’ activities , making their kids
totally miss them . Besides members of big families examine spontaneously mixed
feelings of jealous , envy , and stress . Elder members may feel oppresses
because they are obligated to share in taking some of the responsibilities which
they are not supposed to be involved in . In small families there will be less
conflicts between kids as everything either financially or emotionally will be
equally distributed among them , so there will not be reasons for such feelings
:jealous ,envy , stress , injustice , greed , and oppression . By all means one can
see that it is much better to have small family to ensure prominent life financially
and emotionally .
To conclude what have been discussed throughout the essay . Small families
have much benefits than large ones . Each and every member in a small family
whether parents or children will be drastically satisfied : financially , educationally

4. and emotionally . As mentioned previously parents will be able to provide each of
their children high educational level financially by enrolling them to superior
private schools rather governmental ones , educationally and emotionally by
paying attention and caring for each of their kids’ studies and interests .
Nonetheless loving and treating them equally reducing any of the mixed feelings
mentioned above to occur between them , and affording a prominent living
standard . Government has to participate in spreading the awareness of the
disadvantages of having big families whether to the families themselves or to the
community as a whole . Having many kids will increase the population probably
leading to huge resources defects . Government is the only entity that has the
right to do such a task to systemize and regulate the country’s population an
resources .