2.4 children

English

Etymology

From what was once the average (and therefore supposedly typical) number of children per household in the United Kingdom.

Pronunciation

• Read as “two-point-four children”

Noun

2.4 children pl (plural only)

1. A stereotypical characteristic of normal family life; frequently used ironically.
   • 1993, Carl F. George, How to Break Growth Barriers: Capturing Overlooked Opportunities for Church Growth, Baker Books, →ISBN:

     Maybe their pastoral family, with their 2.4 children, is at the perfect age and life stage for that church, and yours does not seem to be (or vice versa).

   • 2013, Jackie Highe, The Modern Grandparents' Guide, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

     In the 1960s and 1970s it was normal to marry and have babies at a young age – girls were routinely leaving school at sixteen, marrying at eighteen and having their 2.4 children before their twenty-third birthday..

   • 2015, Kerry O'Halloran, The Politics of Adoption: International Perspectives on Law, Policy and Practice, Springer, →ISBN, page 821:

     The heterosexual, monogamous, married for life couple, exclusively committed to the upbringing of their 2.4 children, was the family unit that adoption was legally designed to replicate.

See also

• 2.5 kids (the American equivalent)