The only people I know having more than two children have huge amounts of money
In news that you’ll be very aware of if your car currently has a lot of raisins in the footwell, and blissfully unaware of if you’ve recently had a lie-in, Mummy Pig is pregnant. The porcine matriarch of animated children’s show Peppa Pig announced her pregnancy during an interview with Good Morning Britain, telling viewers that she’s due in the summer.
Mummy Pig (who doesn’t have a first name – don’t get me started on that one) added that she had her own misgivings about being a mother of three, saying she felt “a little overwhelmed at the thought of having three children under five running around”. Mummy Pig did not confirm whether or not it was a planned pregnancy.
Obviously this story made national news because we’re a very silly, albeit fun, country. And while it is, generally speaking, a bit of light relief, I can’t help feeling that Mummy Pig’s pregnancy is actually a bit of a moment for a national conversation, because when was the last time someone you know – someone who isn’t astronomically wealthy – had a third child?
The only people I know of who are doing it have either had a contraceptive oopsie, or have a huge amount of money.
Last year Sophia Money-Coutts wrote for the Telegraph about the phenomenon, pointing out that Carrie Johnson, Pippa Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge and Holly Willoughby, arguably some of the most famous mothers in the UK, all have three children, in a distinct contrast to the rest of the UK where the average number of children per woman of child-bearing age is 1.44.
The Peppa Pig franchise adding a piglet is likely about injecting a bit of life into the show after two decades. It could be an attempt to compete with the newer, more overstimulating shows like Cocomelon (forbidden in my household) or the YouTube sensations of creators like Miss Rachel (my personal hero and, functionally, my co-parent).
But however tinfoil-hat it might sound, I can’t help but wonder if there might be more to it – if Peppa’s new sibling might also be a reaction to the birth crisis, and the dwindling numbers of children we’re opting to have.
In 2004, when Peppa Pig was born, the average number of kids per couple was 1.77. These numbers are always slightly odd in the context of showing a decline in family size because obviously no one is having 0.3 of a child, but it demonstrates that people are having notably fewer children than they once did.
The reasons for this are manifold. We are getting married later and having children later, giving us fewer fertile years in which to have babies. Some people are worried about the climate impact. The cost of living is cited as a major reason why we have fewer kids – and the logistics of three kids are complicated. Most family tickets are for two adults and two children, most cars will only take two car seats in the back, most purpose-built family homes only have three bedrooms. Having two children is the most sensible thing you can do.
And yet, despite all of that, I’ve always wanted three children. I’m one of three, and I love the off-kilter messiness of it. You don’t all fit in one standard car, or in two hotel rooms on holiday – logistically, it’s a stupid thing to do.
But I love having two siblings, one of each sex. I love the enormousness of our family events now that we’re a team of nine (three partners, one grandchild). Being part of a bigger family has been one of the joys of my life and I’m sad to think that I can’t have that.
I suppose I could, if I really wanted to, but my current perception is that a big family is something that only rich people can do. Having three children increasingly feels like a status symbol, a more prestigious demonstration of wealth than an expensive car or tropical holidays. So I suppose it’s a good thing if Peppa – a solidly middle-class pig – having two siblings might chip away at that perception.
It feels anachronistic in the extreme that in 2025 families are worried about having the number of children which would make their family feel complete because they’re nervous about having another mouth to feed.
Being able to have a full table at mealtimes and a loud house isn’t everyone’s idea of familial bliss, but it is mine, and plenty of other people’s. It is genuinely sad to imagine that something as deeply natural as wanting to make more people with the person you love is being hampered by something as prosaic as car size and nursery fees.