Posted on 02/08/2009 6:44:18 PM PST by reaganaut1
THE comment from the photographer at Sears was typical. “Are these all yours?” she asked, surveying Kim Gunnip’s 12 children.
“No,” Mrs. Gunnip replied, “I picked some up at the food court.”
But it was harder to find a retort for the man in line at the supermarket, who said within earshot of her youngest children, “You must have a great sex life.”
Now her family, like other larger families, as they call themselves, is facing endless news coverage of the octuplets born in California and a new round of scorn, slack jaws and stupid jokes.
Back when the average woman had more than three children, big families were the Kennedys of Hickory Hill and Hyannis Port, “Cheaper by the Dozen,” the Cosbys or “Eight is Enough” — lovable tumbles of offspring as all-American in their scrapes as in their smiles.
But as families have shrunk, and parents helicopter over broods tinier yet more precious, a vanload of children has taken on more of a freak show factor. The families know the stereotypes: they’re polygamists, religious zealots, reality-show hopefuls or Québécois in it for the per-child government bonus. And isn’t there something a little obsessive about Angelina Jolie’s quest for her own World Cup soccer team?
“Look at the three shows on TLC that have bigger families,” said Meagan Francis, the 31-year-old author of “Table for Eight,” which stems from her experience raising four children (she is expecting her fifth next month). “One is about religious fundamentalists, one has sextuplets, the other is a family of little people,” she said, referring to, respectively, the Duggars of “17 Kids and Counting,” “Jon and Kate Plus Eight” and “Little People, Big World,” about two dwarfs raising four children, three of average stature, on a pumpkin farm in Oregon.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Having more kids does cost money, but if the Dems are going to tax away your savings anyway, why not? As they raise marginal income taxes on the "rich", more working wives are going to ask why they are working for Uncle Sam. Caring for a large family is easier when one spouse can stay home.
In the old days, a comment in public about a mother’s sex life from a strange man would have received a slap in the face in reply...or a punch in the nose from the husband if he were there.
We’ve become a society of gutter dwellers.
I don't know, I base many of my important life decisions on what will piss off liberals.
There’s nothing wrong with having 12 kids...one or two at a time.
Having 8 at one time, on the other hand, with no husband in sight, while depending on your own parents for support, and having 6 other kids at home under age 8 makes you look like an alley cat having a litter.
I can’t fathom having children right now, but I’m only 23.
Great comeback!!!
No I am a condom salesman and these are just customer complaints !
My grandmother had seven children (dad the oldest born in 1920)...One day a neighbor commented how much they all resembled my grandfather.....Her retort: “Well they don't look like the butcher, iceman, postman or grocer!”
that’s awesome!
My Grandmother and Grandfather had 21! Not all survived but she raised 11 I believe.
Having 8 at one time, on the other hand, with no husband in sight, while depending on your own parents for support, and having 6 other kids at home under age 8 makes you look like an alley cat having a litter.
The real problem is that a lot of people don't distinguish between the two situations!!
Big families rule!
I was raised with 4 brothers and 4 sisters. In so many cases, parents have 1 or 2 and then treat them like little toy poodles. They do not learn the many life lessons that a full house brings, and they do not have the comraderie that comes with such numbers. My remaining siblings and I are quite close and most of us see one another quite regularly.
Well, having 8 kids (at once) is unnatural; that never just ‘happens’.
"You must be infertile."
"How many abortions did you have?"
"You know, there's books that tell you how to do it."
I was only able to have the one son, but he is my greatest blessing. Hoping by the time I am ready to relocate, he will too! Don't know if I could bear being that far from him.
I never came so close to punching someone in the mouth as that.
I had plenty of retorts I would have used if I hadn't had my kids with me.
*sigh*
I’m the eldest of 12, my mother had 8 children in 5 years and everyone thought THAT was a marvel. But now that I am nearing 60, I feel so blessed to have so many built in best friends to grow old with. I just cannot imagine how sad it must be to be an only child in old age.
We have a ton of kids. They are a blessing.
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