Why was it advantageous for people who lived on farms who have many children?

One reason families had numerous children was to share in the work, especially in colonial times. Keeping house, making clothes, mending, washing, knitting, planting and harvesting crops, tending animals, preparing meals, caring for small children and babies, chopping and hauling firewood, cutting trees for building lumber, fishing, hunting, gathering- all those types of tasks made early life extremely work intensive. Colonials needed large families to share in the work.