Thursday, July 15, 2010

Large Families

This is an opinion post.
I just want your opinion.


Here's a disturbing news story about a lady
who was dead for 18 months
and was only found after her house sold.

There are really great promises about having a big family.

One of those is going to be
that I am not going to die
and not be discovered for 18 months.

My kiddos may send me to a nursing home,
but they aren't going to forget about me.

Just like I will never forget my parents.
And neither will my 6 siblings.


I would love to be able to handle 7 children,
like my mom.
Sometimes 4 feels like my max.
I am 36.
I could crank out a couple more.
Especially when looking at this.


It feels like 4 children doesn't really define a large family.
I think that 5 is large.
But, 6 seems to be the magic number for large.
What do you think?

8 comments:

Nicole said...

Every once in awhile I think I might want to have more kids, but then I wake up in the living room. lol Im 37 now & there is nothing stopping me from having more kids... hint, hint.So I guess God could still give me more.
I think if I were younger & had been in the place (mentally) that I am now 10 years ago I would have had more children. Dont get me wrong, my 2 are more than enough & Im very happy being a family of 4. Yet sometimes when I see large families I think that would be nice. So my question to you.... are you going to have some more? hum??

The P*dunc's said...

As for how big I think a "big" family is: I grew up with 5 siblings and it never felt big. living my whole life up until then, 6 felt normal. When I got married and started having kids, 6 felt like a huge, impossible number (Baby #1 was a hard one). Then we moved to Kentucky where 6 was, in fact, a monstrous number. I had always thought it was standard to have a lot of kids, and now, I was seeing many families with 1, 2, or (whoa) 3 kids...done and done and DONE!!! There were a few families there that were leaving it all up to chance and God. They had 7 and 8, respectively. 7 thought she was done at 5 and 8 wasn't done yet. The year I was pregnant with #2, there were 5 women (incl me) pregnant in our small little ward. I was the only one who had a planned pregnancy. God had slipped them all a little surprise! They were: getting a vasectomy, done having kids but not using bc (hmm?), extremely infertile and 42, risking jail by going back to Mexico to take care of their ailing mother. This was all kind of a testimony to me that these babies come when they are supposed to come, in the numbers that they come. I still don't know if I want a big family or a small one, but I know that I will have a "just right" one and that number will be a mystery to me until the last one pops out. Did that answer your question? ;)

Renee said...

I don't know. I only had one sister, so my family of six seems large to me!

I never think about having more kids. After Sophie was born, I just knew my baby years were over and I'm OK with that. My family is complete and the more time that passes, the more this is confirmed in my heart. Some families are meant to be small and some families are meant to be large. We're right there in the middle I guess!

ShEiLa said...

I don't know how your Mom handled 7 and I don't know how my Mom did either... and my Mother had all girls. So it couldn't have been easy on my Dad.

For ME 4 kids was BIG enough. But when I think large... I think of the Whitney's (my neighbors growing up) they had 10 children.

If you want my honest opinion... if as a parent you have the presence of mind and the financial resources to be able to make each child feel important and have the energy it takes to raise a LARGE family then YOU go right ahead. But for ME 4 kids making it a family of 6 was LARGE enough.

ToOdLeS.

stacey said...

4 doesn't seem large. Just perfect, that's how many I'd thought we would of had. 36 isn't old it's just one year beyond me! I think 6 is large.

(to say something about one of your responsew on my blog, the soda is don's. /my body doesn't handle the soda. But,I might run off of chocolate and peanut butter I love those together and it is my greatest weakness).

Kathy said...

For me growing up with 10 kids I have a crazy perspective I think. Growing up I wanted a "small" family of 6. Then I got older and married and still wanted 6 (but now I called it a big family). But since I managed to marry a bit later than I had originally planned 6 seemed out of the question. I'm sure physically even at 38 I could still pop out 2 more but both Todd and I feel like 4 is perfect so we're staying here. I don't think my family is big - but lots of other people think 4 kids is a big family.

Anyways...to answer your question I think a family with 5 or more kids is a large family :)

Klin said...

4 kids is plenty BIG enough for me. Although I keep getting more through foster care, I still like to keep it at 4 or 5 at my home. It's all I can handle.

AnnCP said...

In the beginning, I wanted 12. Then I married a man who was from a family of 12 kids. Then I wanted only 8. Then after 4, thought we couldn't have any more and was sad. Then pregnant 4 times in 3 years (with only 2 to show for that time). Then I asked myself - was there any more? Never had the baby pangs again, so I accepted that 6 was enough. Whether you have a "large" family or not does not matter. What matters is that you feel right about who you have at the table. And if a late dividend slips in - what a treasure!