Friday, August 13, 2010

What's wrong with having a large family?

It seems like in today's society it's a strange and bizarre thing to have a large family. A lot of people think that having more than two or three children in some sort of "phenomenon." I've heard my sisters and some other people I know with 3+ children say that when they are out in public with their kids they occasionally get questions like, "Are these all your children?" I'm sure people are just curious and maybe a bit incredulous when they meet someone who has four, five, six, etc. children, but I'm wondering if these people realize that this comment definitely has a negative undertone to it. And there's always the, "You do know where babies come from, don't you?" comment which is even more insensitive and insulting. (My mom said that she got that comment a lot when she was having kids.) What's wrong with wanting a large family? Some people actually like having lots of kids!

I obviously don't have any children of my own, but if I were married and in the business of starting a family, I would want a large family. I've always known that I wanted to be a mom, and when I was a teenager and thought about having a family, I wanted three or four kids. A few years later when I was 20, 21, 22-ish, I thought it would be nice to have four or five kids. At my current age of 26 I think I would want to have at least five kids, but maybe six, assuming I was healthy enough and assuming my husband was on board.

Maybe my feelings stem from coming from a large family (seven girls), because I can't imagine having or wanting a small family. Lots of people think that two kids -- a boy and a girl, for example -- is perfect. Not me! It makes me sad to think of only having one sibling. Of course I understand that some people have a hard time having kids, and they might not be able to have as many kids as they would like, but I can't imagine only wanting two kids. I would want my kids to have several siblings to grow up with, like I did.

To each his own, of course, but I'm a huge supporter of large families!

2 comments:

Dawn said...

hey there! great post! following you from FF :) Hope you have a great weekend!
Dawn :)
http://flipoutmama.blogspot.com/

Michelle said...

Heather! This is so refreshing! I'm seriously so glad to know that not everyone thinks I'm crazy. This post is such a breath of fresh air for me!

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