How should a list be represented in XML?

Question

In XML, how should a list be represented?

With an enclosing list entity:

<person>
    <firstname>Joe</firstname>
    <lastname>Bloggs</lastname>

    <children>
        <child .../>
        <child .../>
        <child .../>
        <child .../>
        <child .../>
    </children>
</person>

Or without:

<person>
    <firstname>Joe</firstname>
    <lastname>Bloggs</lastname>

    <child .../>
    <child .../>
    <child .../>
    <child .../>
    <child .../>
</person>

Answer 1

For extensibility, I would use the first solution (the one with the children node). If you ever wish to store any data about all of the children then you have a convenient node on which to place attributes.