Do you know of anyone that has a Boatload of kids ?

Toomuchstuff

Toomuchstuff

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Wisconsin
Personally, I knew of one family when I was in grade school that had 12 kids. I think they had kids in every grade of the Catholic school I went to ! LOL Then I sold Avon for awhile - one of the ladies had 13 !!! She was an "empty nester" and I always teased her that she "didn't know how to relax" after the kids left home . LOL

I just read an article about a family in Michigan that has .... wait for it .... 14 !!! ALL BOYS !!!! YIKES ! :p
My dad was from a big family,too.


I know it's their choice - and I'm fine with that . It got me to wondering , do you think that kids in big families miss out on things their peers get to experience and they can't ? (due to expenses or duties in the home ? ) I don't mean the "Duggars on TV - 19 kids and counting " ..... that's a *cough* reality TV show.

If you know someone in real life that has alot of kids , how is their life from your perspective ?
In this generation,all my relatives have only one or two kids - we're keeping it small !
 

I'm the 5th of 11, now ranging in age from 52 to 71. All are parochial school survivors and we have enough to incorporate our own village if we wanted to ;) -- currently spread all up and down the West Coast and one in Colorado. Every one has traveled a lot, most have traveled/lived/worked in other parts of the U.S. and abroad. Over thirty offspring so far in the extended group!

Skype cannot handle us in a group Yahtzee game, just overloads and pixellates all over itself! Texting is the preferred communication method :D
 
JF Bev, sounds like one big happy family. Wonderful. Keesha, haha.

I had 4 children all 2 years apart and raised them as a widowed single parent since they were ages 2-8. We also had 2 horses, 3 dogs, 2 cats, and a pool to take care of, as well as a vegetable garden and yard/house maintenance etc....so i'll call it a boatload lol.

We had a good balance of structure and flexibility...family vacations and each child was allowed 3 extracurricular activities each (x4kids) and every Sunday was sunday school. That meant I had to taxi and be present for 12 soccer games, tennis, ballet, piano lessons, ice hockey, baseball, field hockey, lots of birthday parties, girl scouts, boy scouts, etc etc...and I was there for them. I even camped overnight with the boy scouts because they were young and all required a parent...all Dads but me.

But, believe it or not, it never felt like mayhem...it was just us living life and having as much fun as we could and as many worthwhile experiences as possible...without a father figure.

Well, not exactly. When I decided to sell our house and move us to a new location, all the kids were at camp for moving day and the preparation it took ahead of time. My mother came to help pack and left quickly because it was too overwhelming. Bless her heart, she tried. I moved us out of VA and into NC all by myself. I was scammed by the movers and lost a lot of my belongings.

I don't know exactly how a mental breakdown is clinically defined but I think I had one...not clinical...when the new owners showed up for a walk through and my hot water heater busted a leak flooding the downstairs just as they arrived. I also think I had a slight mini stroke prior. Not sure but google "word salad". I rambled a few sentences like that in a conversation with someone. I could hear myself and knew it wasn't right but couldn't stop it.

I didn't work so I could give them all the attention they needed. Not working was good for the children but a job would have been good for me to be grounded in an adult world with adult conversation, and for just plain getting a break. I had no breaks. I chose that and put the children first but I credit my late husband for making that possible financially. I feel for those who don't have that option available.

I didn't have time to miss my own "life" and as they grew to be independent, then I felt unneeded...and without a purpose. But i got a job for my remaining 8 years before retirement and my now adult children have supported me and encouraged me to be all I want to be....which isn't on a grand scale, I admit :)....it's a time for me to just relax, enjoy the quiet, and restore my health.

Sorry for this lengthy post.
 
My former landlady has a daughter and son in law with 12 living kids,not including many miscarriages...
Their lifestyle pretty much mirrored the Duggars,the oldest when I first met them was probably 20 down to toddler age,the husband /father is a Baptist minister,while their housing is provided, the salary is not great.
As I said another practicing "quiver full" follower,the older kids,both sexes, are responsible for the complete care of the younger,I'm talking about everything, care,feeding,bathing,toilet training, schooling...I felt they were pretty much deprived of having their own lives,their dating lives were exactly like the Duggars.
Christmas,they exchanged items from around the house and didn't do a tree or anything,I guess getting away from the commercial aspects of the holiday,which I can understand.
I do remember one of the little ones telling me that not everyone had a bed,that they took turns sleeping on the floor.
Lack of health insurance also led to not being vaccinated, dental problems,it all left a bad impression on me as to why have so many when you're not really equipped to handle them.
That's all.
 
Raised 'Mormon' grew up in Utah, a small family is one with 6 or less kids. Our neighbor of 17 years had 12 - 2 sets of twins. Couldn't find nicer kids, no problems whatsoever in all that time. My wife was the last of 10.
 
I have five sisters. That was enough in a one-bathroom house.

My late husband had 10 brothers and sisters; the kids were spread out over 25 years from oldest to youngest. Yes, in families like that, the oldest ones have to do a lot of the "raising" of the little ones. One of his older sisters told me that because her mother had a harder and harder time with the birth of each new baby, she didn't go to class much in high school. She had to stay home and take care of the household. The nuns came by a couple of times a week and dropped off lessons. It was a common situation in Catholic high schools.....she graduated with her class.
 
Lara said:
JF Bev, sounds like one big happy family. Wonderful.
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Thanks Lara! We are definitely a group, for sure!
It was tough growing up, socioeconomically speaking, but Dad's rule was: "take it outside to the patio" when a disagreement arose between any two of us, and no one else was allowed to go out there and contribute to the discussion. Still works well when we occasionally gather in group mode (IRL or via Skype) . . . takes almost an hour just to get current, but always interesting! :eek:nthego:

After I read your post and realized how much you've overcome and are still thriving, it made me think you'd be a great "life counselor"!
 
We had four but our second daughter beat us with five. 4 boys and then finally a girl. Excellent parents so it`s good to see that-too many have kid after kid that they can`t or won`t take care of.

Our son in law is the youngest of 12. (Haha,the second I typed that,he text me )Anyway,his mom never drove a car,was housebound with 12 kids for many,many years. I can`t even imagine. Many of his siblings are so much older than him that he hardly knows them. They had already left home,or close to it,by the time he was born.
 
Bev, your Dad was a wise father...and to think it lasted a lifetime...I wonder if he realizes that?

That reminds me of when my 4 children had a babysitter. I walked in the door and all 4 met me at the door, all yelling over each other what was their own version of who wronged who.

I said, "Quiet. Everyone take a seat in the dining room, you'll each get a piece of paper and pencil to write down what happened and then we'll talk about it together in a family meeting at the table." They were silent as they all started to write a few sentences. My youngest quickly said, "I'm done, can I go out and play?" Then they all wanted to go out and play and said never mind about the meeting...we don't care. :grouphug: :laugh:
 
Yes, we had large families living nearby when I was a kid, a couple of them into double figures. I was friendly with some of those kids, an only child who envied them sometimes.

Funny thing though. I discovered they envied me sometimes too. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
 
Leonie said:
Yes, we had large families living nearby when I was a kid, a couple of them into double figures. I was friendly with some of those kids, an only child who envied them sometimes.

Funny thing though. I discovered they envied me sometimes too. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
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I wanted a brother......my mom kept coming home from the hospital with another sister. Sigh.
 
My best friend in high school had 10 kids altogether in her family.
The first time I visited her it was quite an eye opener.
Her home was very small with only 2 bedrooms and bunkbeds everywhere.
 
I went to Infants catholic school with two sisters and a brother who were the younger ones of a family of 21 kids ,they lived in a very old wooden/ iron shack of a home, not far from me ,I seen one of the girls when I went back to my home town, about 2 years ago three of the sisters never married and still live in the same rundown house .

Another family that lived in the same street as me had 15 kids.

The was 9 kids in my family
 
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This subject always amazes me, I can't believe so many people actually choose to have large families these days, especially people on low incomes, why they want the worry of feeding, clothing and caring for all those kids is beyond me, you wouldn't think there was such a thing as contraception

There's a family nearby with 5 young children, they seem to spend their lives screaming, shouting and vying for their mothers attention, she in turn shouts back and is always stressed, I see young mothers struggling on the bus with 3 or 4 little ones, looking absolutely worn out, one was enough for me ;)
 
A boy in my class in junior school had 19 siblings!

My father was one of 16...My mother one of 9...and I'm one of 7

All the more amazing because unlike today no-one was paid to have kids back then.. today they get loads of benefits from the government for every child
 
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