If a person asks how many and you tell them less than the truth, then you aren't being truthful. What kind of circumstances could support being less than truthful on a simple question like "how many kids you have"?
I assure you. I am not being less that truthful. You just have to be open minded to the explanation.
I have two kids, both boys.
These are my two *actual* 100% confirmed biological sons. The first one is from a fling I had as a teenager, the second is from my first marriage. I have only met the older one twice in his entire life, I barely know him, we never talk and I had absolutely nothing to do with his upbringing. My door is always open to him if he ever needs me...and I have attempted to reach out on several occasions...but we are, for all purposes, complete and total strangers.
I have two kids, a girl and a boy.
These are my two kids from my first marriage. I met my first wife when she was 3 months pregnant. She had a daughter...the real father disappeared into the woodwork and was never found. He never paid a dime, and we never saw him. He didn't ever exist in her life. *I* raised her, fed her, changed her diapers, and took care of her...I am her father.
I have three kids, two boys and a girl.
This is when I count all of the above. I don't always count my oldest boy...this is probably the most common answer I give.
I have 5 kids...4 boys and one girl.
In my second marriage married into three more sons. I've had a big effect on their lives (the younger ones more than the older ones), and treat them exactly as if they were my very own flesh and blood. I've been MORE of a father to them than I have been to my oldest son. These are the children whose lives I have effected as a "father figure"...
I have 6 kids...5 boys and one girl.
I give this answer very commonly as well. This is when I put my current wife's three kids and my three kids altogether.
I have 7 kids...5 boys and two girls.
This is the rarest answer...and the only one on the list that is, admittedly, a stretch. Before I met my first wife, I was in yet another relationship that very nearly went to marriage. There was a daughter that was put up for adoption. I don't talk about it much...she would be 23 now....and because of the timing of the breakup, there were actually two possible fathers who *both* had to sign the paperwork. But I'm about 80% sure it was mine. She would be my only biological daughter if that were true.
So, depending on circumstances (usually just coming down to a matter of, are you looking for *my kids* that I have raised? Or family medical history for someone I barely know??) all of the above are TRUE AND FACTUAL for their given circumstances.