It is most difficult for parents to decide whether to have a second child or not.

    It is often heard that a single child is like to be a lonely child. There are no other children in the family for the child to talk or play with. An only child is not able to get along well with children of his age. Some parents regretted making the decisions to have only one child.

    But the number of parents choosing to have only one child is increasing in many parts of the world. In the US, for example, more than14 percent of women between 18 and 34 plan to have just one child. The same can be seen in the UK. In Japan, the average number of children born per family had gone down to 1.42 by 1996.

    For some single-child parents, especially who are busy working every day, time and energy seem to be overwhelming. They don't have enough time and energy to share with more children. For other people, money is their first consideration. Many couples in Japan choose not to have large families as the cost of supporting a child up to the age of 18 reaches around US＄160,000.

    These days, more and more students in the UK are taking a “gap year”between their graduation from school and their university studies. This means they can take a year off to do something else, before they start their studies.

    For most students, spending time in foreign countries is the favorite activity — and Australia is the favorite place to go.

    Many parents, teachers and business people agree that travelling can teach important values.

    “After a year of travelling, I felt I'd grown up. I had learnt the importance of relationships with people, on all kinds of levels.”

    There are many companies around the world that welcome these students on their projects—helping people in poorer countries, or even in your home country. Although you don't get paid for your work, this kind of work can teach important skills—decision making and finding answers to problems, for example—that will help many students in a job one day.

    Finally, getting some knowledge and experience in an area you hope to study or work in one day will always be very useful.

    If several university graduates are applying(申请) for the same job, gar year work experience allows you to say,

    “I've already had some experience of this kind of work.” And that can get your job.