*APPLAUSE*
Articles like this remind me of how quiet the house is now that the kids are grown and gone and the Grandkids haven't arrived yet. *SIGH*
But I get over it quickly, LOL!
Being from a family of ten where ten is the norm for my Uncle, I loved this article when I got it in the print form.
A few things that those contemplating having large families should know (from a kids prospective of course):
1. I thought "Hand me down" was a name brand until I was twelve.
2. And don't the young women run the other way when they find out you come from a big family....AND ACTUALLY LIKE IT.
3. No matter how many times you hear it "Oh, your poor mother" will never make sense.
4. And there's no such thing as a kid from a big family who isn't ticklish.
5. Feminine mystique goes out the window when you have 5 sisters.
6. Your kids will actually think it's kind of cool that your still flirting like teenagers when you've been married 40 years.
God bless them! Big families are a blessing.
(I come from a family of 11.)
Thanks for the ping.
My best friend in high school was at that time the oldest of 12. Her mother had 5 more. No multiples. One that I know of is dead now. She was born with a heart defect. I loved going over there to spend the night although I had to sleep in a bed with three other girls and one time her little brother peed on the open gas heater. They lived behind a fish restaurant in a three bedroom house with one bath. Later, they moved to the country and had some land and amazingly enough a barn in which to build things. At the house I used to stay at her dad and two brothers were building rockets and a gyrocopter in the attic. At their fram, they built a small airplane. Their dad worked at Bell Helicopter. I think he had something to do with gold plating some of the parts and he would collect the tiny bits of gold left over and periodically, give it to the church.
an obvious ping. :-)
The only thing that upsets me about large family articles is how organized they always are. I have five children and can't seem to get so organized.
That is the mark of great faith.
The vocation of parenthood rests in the task of leading our children - all those that God will bless us with - to enternal life!
Somebody computes decades differently than I do. It's a stretch to call it 4 decades when 1959 is the very end of one, and 1980 is barely the beginning of one. The kids were born over a 21 year time span, and that isn't so eye catching, is it?
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What a wonderful article. Thanks for posting it!
Just considering the number of HUGE houses that are being built around here (and everywhere) I would have thought that families with 10 to 12 kids was the norm. I recently discovered that many of these monster houses aren't even finished off up stairs and are inhabited by 2 people.
I don't know where you are now, but in New York and northern New Jersey, large Catholic families are all but nonexistent, due to the high cost of living here.
One if you want it or I could try pinging it later.
Wow, great article. I have so much respect for large families - they are a wonderful thing.
Thanks doe posting this, I have 3 children and that is it for me, I would have loved to have more, but it's not financially feasible for us. Kudos to those that can do it.