Two and a half kids

What does "half kid" mean in this context? Stillbirth? Unborn child? A pet?

The context is from a book called The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson.

Our culture today is obsessively focused on unrealistically positive expectations... Be happier. Be healthier. Be the best, better than the rest. Be smarter, faster, richer, sexier. Be perfect and amazing and crap out twelve-karat-gold nuggets before breakfast each morning while kissing your selfie-ready spouse and two and a half kids goodbye.

Solution 1:

In a culture where we want everything to be perfect, 2.5 kids is the ideal (it's not just about average) family size. Your quote is about being perfect in every way, not about being average.

This can be found in polls of what people really think:

A recent Gallup poll asked Americans what they think is "the ideal number of children for a family to have" and found Americans, on average, believe that 2.5 children are ideal. (Gallup)

Of course this means that some people think that less than 2.5 is ideal and some think that more than 2.5 is ideal. The averaging comes from computing the average of these responses about what is perceived to be ideal.

So to have a perfect life (I like the part about the gold nuggets), why would you want an average family size? You would want an ideal family size.

In an average life, you only rent your beer, but you never defecate gold bars.

Solution 2:

No, this refers to the fact that the "average" American family has 2.5 children.

Basically, this passage is telling you to be average; perfectly and absurdly average.

Solution 3:

2 1/2 literally means that if you average it up, you get 2 1/2 (so, for two families, one family with 2, another with 3).

Funnily enough, this plays out in cartoons. But in the cartoon world, to show the "averageness" of the American family, you get 2 children and 1 infant: cf. Simpsons and Family Guy.