Is it best to claim as many exemptions as you qualify for on your W-4?

Our taxes have changed dramatically in the last year, and I’m a bit confused. My husband provides our only income, and we file our taxes jointly. Normally he writes in 2 exemptions on his W-4.
Now we need to claim 2 children… which we normally do not do. On the W-4 do we claim them each as a dependent and include those 2 children for the child tax credit, or just one or the other? I assume that this just goes on the Child Tax Credit line, and ignores the dependent line. (I hope this is making some sense.)

Assuming the dependent children only count for one of those lines on the W-4, that would make 7 exemptions. That seems like quite a lot, and I dread having to pay any taxes at the end of the year. What is the best way to do this? Is there really a “best way?” I was always told that you can technically put in whatever you want, but I recognize that there are consequences to that. My goal is to maximize income from regular paychecks, but still get a small return.

I lied. I’m really confused.