I am a father of 5. I also built 5 companies. Building 5 companies of which 4 did very well is a very rare accomplishment. Yet having 5 children is something that many more people could do if they wanted to..

If I have to compare, what gave me more satisfaction in life, as much as I have enjoyed building my companies and I now enjoy being CEO of Fon, being a father is just another level of enjoyment and satisfaction. Alexa, Isa, Tom, Leo and Mia they make me happy every day of my life. Parenting has tough moments but overall it is the best thing I have ever done. I am not recommending that everyone has 5 children. But many people I know have none. In Spain where I live, the native population is shrinking. Even having 3 children is very rare and most couples have one or two. People say having children is expensive but health care is free, education up to university level is free and these are the two biggest costs in USA where people have more children. To me it’s a mystery why people have such few children in this country. I still hope to have my 6th one. When I was growing up we were also 6. Our home was an ongoing party.

Follow Martin Varsavsky on Twitter: twitter.com/martinvars

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Christoph Schaer on October 13, 2011  · 

Well put,
We live in Switzerland and have three children and I would even go for more; but to Tango it takes two… Raising children is challenging everyday and deeply satisfying at the same time. With children Life gets a different perspective and professional challenges become relative. Material things become relative too; I always dreamt of having a Ferrari, but nothing prevents me from keeping on dreaming while I enjoy seeing our children grow up.

3.0 rating

Corsoº on October 14, 2011  · 

You are rich. We don’t. clear?

3.0 rating

anna on October 15, 2011  · 

You are into your third wife, aren’t you? Maybe most men don’t like changing wife so many times? Because I can’t imagine that there can be that many women that are smart enough to have careers that would like to have five children, money or no money.

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Victoria Rosa Sturley on October 23, 2011  · 

I think that in Spain women are on child protest. The strain is just too much. Women don’t have work/life balance without children and are strongly penalised for being mothers, whether it affects their work performance or not. Not to mention having to mediate the extended family that still is quite strong in Spain. It’s hardly a wonder they do not want more care responsibilities. And if women don’t want children, people don’t have children (except gay fathers, of course).

It’s not just an issue in Spain. I believe in the US the number of children a woman has is the strongest indicator of bankrupcy. And in Spain 70% of divorced fathers NEVER pay child support. Being a mother, to put it simply, decreases a woman’s life chances. What does not cease to amaze me is that women in Spain have children at all.

3.0 rating

gaspara zingaretti on October 24, 2011  · 

Maybe in Spain the population is shrinking (in Italy as well), but in the WORLD AS A WHOLE population is growing and a lot of children are orfans or their parents can’t feed them…so PLEASE, before having your 6th child, and make the world crowdier WHY DON’T YOU CONSIDER TO ADOPT ONE???????????????????????Also TWO. You can.

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