coffeegal Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 Asked dh and he said.... 24 kids :svengo: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeswife Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 I consider 5 or more children to be a large family. 3-4 would be medium and 1-2 would be small. When we had our 3rd many people including family asked why we were so careless as to get pregnant again. They were flabbergasted when we said it was planned. We already had 1 boy and 1 girl so they just didn't see why we "needed" more kids. My 2 brothers in law that have 3 were never asked these questions because one of them had 2 boys so the third was seen as the try for the girl and the other had twins the second time around (although the twins as well as their first born are all boys so if they have a 4th it won't be seen as odd) I do agree that the world today here in America seems to cater to families of 4. Many times if we go out to eat we have to go well before the normal dinner hour or wait much longer for a table to fit us just because we have that 3rd child. I have noticed that many families in our circles have 3 or more kids, but we're military and many times I've had comments made (by civilians) that the only reason we have more than 2 is because "Well he must have come home from deployment and 9 months later they got the welcome home present" That is not the case, none of our kids were "Welcome home surprises" all were planned for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twilkin Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 I used to think 5 kids was large but now that I have 7 I think 8 is large. As far as finances: We don't have any. $ that is. We don't own anything new. Clothes come from 2nd hand stores. Curriculum is bought used. Big garden. Chickens. Hunting Fishing Kids that work to earn their own money for luxuries. We live out in the country so our housing is less than it might be. 15 passenger van. By the time I get my own kids in with a couple friends...it's full! I don't buy food unless it's on sale. Kidsbowlfree.com Love this program! For fun we go to the beach, spend time with friends, hike, kayak, camp, play outdoors, cards, bowl. It has to be free or cheap or we just can't do it. We don't buy the kids B-day presents. They get enough from friends and family. We only go to the movies once a year. Why not wait for it to come out on video and save the $100? Some people would die living without the "luxuries" as we do but my family is very happy. We don't need money to be happy..just each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlessedMom Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 Four or more children. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty in Pink Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 I have noticed that many families in our circles have 3 or more kids, but we're military and many times I've had comments made (by civilians) that the only reason we have more than 2 is because "Well he must have come home from deployment and 9 months later they got the welcome home present" That is not the case, none of our kids were "Welcome home surprises" all were planned for. Yeah, I've gotten this comment several times as well (but one of our kids is a post-deployment baby and one is a military ball baby, so what can I say, ya know :lol:). I'm absolutely smitten with my dh. I might just have a dozen of that man's babies if he aksed me to! :001_wub: Just kiding...sort of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 I know I sound stupid but more than 2 children seems like a big family to me. Intellectually I know that isn't right, but when I see someone with a three or four kids (that's the biggest family I've ever seen around here), that seems like a lot of kids in one place...My parents kept our house quiet, so I'm not really used to the noise of a lot of children in one place. I grew up in a loud Irish-American family so when I happen to have just 1 of my kids home with me, it seems WAY too quiet. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommaduck Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 I would say that up to 3 is Small. 4-6 is average. 7-10 is average large. Over 10 is pretty large. We have two vehicles...haven't been able to find a 15 passenger that we could afford used and in one lump sum, so we drive two when we have to and we walk when the weather is nice. We do live in an area that is affordable to us, not necessarily somewhere that I would LIKE to live, but it's what we have and is within out budget. Our children share rooms and have bunk beds. They enjoy things like Wii and such at friends' houses and enjoy simpler things here. We spend a lot of family time together. We shop at dent and bent/overstock/bulk food stores. We buy a lot of veggies and fruit from roadside stands/farms toward the end of season or when the farmer has so much they are practically giving it away. We have a lot of hand me downs and thrift store items. Our china is mismatched. We love our life, our children will have wonderful memories, will have learned a lot that will prepare them for real life, not entitlement mentality, and they will have each other as they get older and eventually when we are no longer around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runmiarun Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 Growing up, I only knew 2 families who had 4 kids or more. Actually, both had 4 kids. I was always jealous. It was just my brother and I. I dreamed of a large family of 2 boys and 1 girl when I was a teenager. I thought 3 was large. Now I have 2 boys, 1 girl, and another joining us in 2/11. When I found out I was pregnant with #3, friends (and a few strangers) thought we were nuts. It's true, we are, but we were nuts before the kids got here. As for money, there is none. There's no sanity here either so I'm sure it took the money and ran. We live very frugally-no tv, a bucket garden to help supplement the grocery trips, no fancy foods, no eating out unless someone else treats, stay-cations or somewhere for day trips, basic landline for telephone with no extras, hand-me-downs, coupon magic and only buying what's on sale at the grocery store,...I can't think of anything else at the moment. I truly love my life in this frugal stage. The kids don't know the difference since we became a one-income family after they joined us. They don't know what it's like to have their own room. To them, sharing a room is like having a sleepover every night with your best buddy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jld Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 I'm one of eleven, so my five don't seem like so many. That said, I can really see why people only have two. It's just so much easier in so many ways. From what I'm reading on the other threads, it sounds like affordable housing is key to affording a bigger family. I'm really wondering how people in high cost housing areas manage. I hope they will tell us . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris's girl Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 I think more than 4 kids is getting there. Lol. We have 6, soon 7, and I think of our family as "big-ish". But I'd have to say that truly "large" is 9 or 10 or more. Maybe it's because we have 6-7. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ereks mom Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 2 or 3 children seems "normal", whatever that is. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 From what I'm reading on the other threads, it sounds like affordable housing is key to affording a bigger family. I'm really wondering how people in high cost housing areas manage. I hope they will tell us . . . When we were house-hunting we saw this little 3 BR/1.5 BA ranch home that was only maybe 1700 sq ft. Our agent showed it to us when we were running into issues with finding a lender willing to write a mortgage over a certain size. She wanted to let us know what was available in that particular price range. Anyways, the owners were empty nesters who had 6 grown children. It was hard for me to imagine a family of 8 squeezed into what to me seemed like such a small house. However, my mom said it wasn't that unusual back when she was growing up in the '50's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-2-7 Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 We're one of those families with the "big, white vans"! We have 9 dc. Two are grown and gone. The other 7 are all 7 yrs and under. I think just because of the ages of my kids, it seems like a large family. If we had a wider age range I think 7 dc would feel normal. I think "big" is the point where people look at you and their eyes get big, and rude and inconsiderate things just start falling out of their mouths. Are they all yours? Wow! You've got your hands full! You've been busy! (said with a knowing look) You can start yourself a baseball team! Do you run a daycare? And then there are the really rude things that I won't go into. :glare: Oh, I get tired of hearing the comments. Every. single. time. we. go. out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlbuchina Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 I come from a family of 5 (including parents) and my dh comes from a family of 7 (including parents). I don't think my dh comes from a large family, but people we know that find out how many bro. and sis. he has are a little taken aback. I always thought I would have at least 3 dc, but thus far the Lord has blessed us with 2. The older I get, and the more I learn about families with 6 or more dc, the more I wish for "just one more, please???" LOL I love to see "large" families. I think they must have a blast together. I know we do, and more could only be more fun!:lol: Right? LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowperch Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 I know three other 5-child families in our town, and one six-child family in the town nextdoor. Two good childhood friends have 8 and 11. I think that would be grand but I would have had to have met my DH a decade earlier. Where we are, we get noticed with our five, but usually by kindly older people who say nice things to us. We can live on one income and enjoy life's niceties (piano lessons, foreign language lessons for the kids, as well as the occasional second-hand surfboard and iceskates. the children have bikes and new swim gear and new underpants and mainly hand-me-down clothes. I buy books I love, and music and theater tickets,etc. But we don't buy a lot of clothes, go out to dinner, buy electronics, or follow any trends style-wise. Our home is modest but lovely and paid for this year) because my DH works insanely hard,long hours, constant travel, and does a fair bit of moonlighting. We were very frugal (as in I'd return Christmas gifts for the cash and put it in the bank) when we were building our nestegg. I knew I'd want to SAH so we postponed having children until I could do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mycalling Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 I consider 6 or more to be large. For some reason needing an extra hand to count them just feels like tons of kids! We make do on what we have. My husband owns his own business, but it's feast or famine. Mortgage first, food, then anything else. After 2 months of other bills accruing, we pare down. I consider it my job to save our family money since his is to make it. We've also moved a few times to stay within our one-income means. Thankfully, our only debt is the mortgage payment. We learned we have to keep it that way after our first was born ($26,000 added debt in one year while he started his business). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnitaMcC Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 When we had our 3rd many people including family asked why we were so careless as to get pregnant again. They were flabbergasted when we said it was planned. We already had 1 boy and 1 girl so they just didn't see why we "needed" more kids. Yep, we got same response many times.... our first borns are twins... boy/girl. People would assume we were "done" since we got one of each the first time around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrappyhappymama Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 Four seems normal to us. Probably because both my husband and I came from families with four children. 5+ is where I feel a family is considered to be a "large" family. We're actually debating now whether to have more, and most of our discussions center around being content with our current "normal" sized family, or being willing to sacrifice to have a large family. However, nearly everyone we meet acts like the four we have is just SO outside the norm. Mostly because we have FOUR BOYS. People just freak out about it, even more than the reactions I remember my mom getting with the four of us. And more often than not, ass.u.me. we have four because we keep trying for a girl. I just reply that we'll only have another if we are 100% content to have son #5 (which we would be). :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wy_kid_wrangler04 Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 (edited) We have 4 kids-- alot of people consider us a large family- but I have a friend who had baby number 9 5 weeks ago and a friend who was due with number 8 yesterday- (still waiting though :toetap05:) So I dont consider us large. How do we do it with one income? Well we do not have car payments, no CC's- we are debt free other than our house. We just save for what we want or need (such as the plumber who is here WAY more than he should be :glare: Like tomorrow AGAIN:glare:). We do not buy brand new cars or anything like that. We look for good deals for everything. We do not have to have luxuries (rediculously expensive vacations-- we live in the black hills- we are very happy where we are LOL). We choose not to have cable (not to save money- just because there is to much junk on it to jusitify the cost for us) We just do! BUT with our personalities we dont want glamor or anything like that either. We are laid back and like the easy life! The fewer bells and whistles the better! :D Edited June 22, 2010 by wy_kid_wrangler04 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NavyWifeandMommy Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 Yeah, I've gotten this comment several times as well (but one of our kids is a post-deployment baby and one is a military ball baby, so what can I say, ya know :lol:). I'm absolutely smitten with my dh. I might just have a dozen of that man's babies if he aksed me to! :001_wub: Just kiding...sort of. My second child was born a month before deployment and my third was born a few months after that same deployment. So wasn't planned Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NavyWifeandMommy Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 I think more than 4 is a large family. I would like to have between 5 and 9 myself, but will be happy with 4. (DH says 10 is just way too many, while 2 is just small and 3 has the odd-man-out factor that I disliked as a child). Which means that if this 1 is 2, I'll be planning on another one as soon as I can! (Unlike my mother's reaction, which was "first I had 1 girl, then I had twin girls, if I get pregnant again with my luck it'll be triplets---all girls" so she stopped with the twins). However, if I wind up with a second C-sec, I'll probably want to adopt future children. 3 is really an odd number. my son is sandwhiched between his sisters. Though hubby says he gets the pick of older sister friends or younger sister friends. So a guy thing. anyways we can no longer have biological children so we are paving a path to adopt more. possibly a sibling group Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 Asked dh and he said.... 24 kids :svengo: SO you'll have an EDD in your signature for a LOONG time, huh? ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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