Lawyer&Mom Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 A mom at Church is expecting her fourth next month. This will be *the* biggest family in my children’s social sphere. (And we are Catholic!) My husband was one of six, my mom was one of seven, but we have two and two is *so* common in our (urban, HCOL) world. I know people still have big families, I enjoy reading about your big families here, but my kids don’t see them. I imagine this varies widely, which is why I ask, what is the biggest family your kids know? (I’m only counting my children’s peers, obviously they know they have lots of aunts and uncles, but those are grownups, not their generation.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lecka Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 Seven kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MysteryJen Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 Six kids for a family they know well. 8 for a simple church acquaintance. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 Over the years that has varied and they might not remember some of the large families that they knew when they were little but have lost touch with. . So biggest ever was 12. They might remember the family of 7 because that was more recent. They currently know a family of 11 kids but they might not know that they are a family of 11 kids in that they only know the younger 6 because the older 5 are all adults and have been out of the house from before my kids knew them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 14 kids We know several families with 7 kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scholastica Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 (edited) Currently, 13 kids. Edited August 30, 2019 by scholastica Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hjffkj Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 hmmm, well I am one of 9 so they know that family. And each of them is going to be 1 of 6 soon. But in our Catholic home school group there is one other family of 6, multiple families of 5, and my brother is expecting his 6th right when I'm due. Off the top of my head I'm not sure if there are any ones larger than that but there very well could be 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheReader Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 hmm.I honestly have no idea. I just met a new family at youth group who have 9 children; 2 attend youth group with my youngest. I don't know if he knows them (they are new), and I don't know that even if he did become good friends with them, if he'd realize there are 7 other siblings in the family. Aside from that, my sister has 4 kids; another close friend family has 5 (although 2 are adults out of the house). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hjffkj Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 I should add that those families in our home school group will likely be closer to the double digits of kids by the time they are done having kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purpleowl Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 The largest families they know have five or are expecting their fifth, and it's well within the realm of possibility that some of those families will continue past five. Oh wait, I forgot - one family at church has six at the moment (some are foster kids). So I guess that's the biggest right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sassenach Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 (edited) We have close friends with 10, but they don't live in our uber high COL area. The biggest local family we know is 5. When we moved from FL to CA, I was amazed how many comments and looks we got about our 4. In FL we were very average. Thinking about it more, we are tied for the most kids in our church. Almost everyone has 2. Edited August 30, 2019 by sassenach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jentrovert Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 They don't know any, very well, who have more than 3. Two is more common. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
historically accurate Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 I have 3 kids, but we know several families with more than that. My youngest did gymnastics last year with 4 girls from a family of 11 kids; come to find out, that family attends my in-law's church, so they occasionally hear about them from MIL too. Currently, my middle does TKD. Two of the instructors are brothers who have 7 other siblings, so a family of 9 kids. We're doing an activity with a family of 6 kids this afternoon. 4-6 kids is really common in the homeschooling world here, so they know lots of families about that size. 7+ is pretty rare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawyer&Mom Posted August 30, 2019 Author Share Posted August 30, 2019 1 minute ago, sassenach said: We have close friends with 10, but they don't live in our uber high COL area. The biggest local family we know is 5. When we moved from FL to CA, I was amazed how many comments and looks we got about our 4. In FL we were very average. Pretty sure the comments start at three in my zip code... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 35 minutes ago, Jentrovert said: They don't know any, very well, who have more than 3. Two is more common. Same here. My boys know of a couple of families with six kids and one with seven, but they don't know any of those very well. More than three is unusual in our circles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DesertBlossom Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 We used to live in the same neighborhood as a family that ended up having 13. I don't know how well my kids remember them though. I come from a family of 7 and we have 7. Another family we are friends with have 8. We know a lot of families with 5 or 6. In fact, 5 or 6 kids in my circle seems more common than 3 or less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heatherwith4 Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 My sister in law has 9 kids, so they are very used to it. 😊 I think there are plenty of people who look at us with our 4 kids and think we are a little nuts though. 🤷🏻♀️ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 My aunt has 12, and one of my cousins (her dd) has 11, but they live in CA (opposite coast) and my kids know them mostly from pics. I know a couple of local hs families that have 8 or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellydon Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murphy101 Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 LOL. Our own tops the list at 11. Outside of us, I think they “know of” a couple families in the 6-8 kids range. And know well several families with 5 kids. I don’t know what happens with kid 5, but it’s unusual for us to meet a family with more than 5 and when we do, it’s usually 7or8. Once in a very great while it’s 9. I don’t know any local families with 10 or more kids. At this point, most people don’t know I have 11 unless they ask me. The oldest 5 are 18 and up, so are busy with their own lives, still living at home or not. So I only have 6 out and about with me regularly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 My kids only know one family with 3 and the oldest was my DS14’s classmate in kindergarten. Don’t know anyone who has a 3rd child after 2009. When DS13 was in kindergarten, his classmates were only child or have only one sibling. My condo complex’s families has one or two kids as those with three has moved from condo to single family homes or large townhomes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonfirmath Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 1 hour ago, Lawyer&Mom said: A mom at Church is expecting her fourth next month. This will be *the* biggest family in my children’s social sphere. (And we are Catholic!) My husband was one of six, my mom was one of seven, but we have two and two is *so* common in our (urban, HCOL) world. I know people still have big families, I enjoy reading about your big families here, but my kids don’t see them. I imagine this varies widely, which is why I ask, what is the biggest family your kids know? (I’m only counting my children’s peers, obviously they know they have lots of aunts and uncles, but those are grownups, not their generation.) 4. There is one family in our sphere that has 6 but I don't think either of my kids are aware they have 6 kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73349 Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 Definitely not over 5. Two or three is typical here. Housing in the area is typically newish (at ~35, ours is an "older home") and costly, probably driving larger families to farther-flung locations or discouraging people from having more than fit comfortably in the house. Three is the most in our little neighborhood AFAIK. None of my close friends has more than two. Nobody in our family has had more than 5 since the 1940s. DH is one of two; his parents are one of three and one of four; his aunts and uncles don't have more than two IIRC (and they're Catholic). I'm one of my mom's five, but that's with three different dads; my parents are one of two and one of four, and none of their siblings has had more than two. One of my cousins has four in a blended family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 Who I"m close to and know the whole family? 5 kids. I had two sisters at camp for a week who said they had 7 siblings, but the rest were adults and I only met those two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 My husband's older sister has twelve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 I know several people who have upwards of five kids or more - typically because Mom had a kid or two as a teenager or a very young adult, and then had the rest in her late 20s to mid-30s. But afaik my kids only know two families with four kids and a handful with three. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 There is also a family my kids know from tumbling with ten children. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 Our family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 There is a family at our church/school that has a lot of boys - at least 5, but I think it is more. We know a number of families (friends/relatives) with 4 kids. There may be other families we know that have >4 kids, but they don't come to mind immediately. My parents had 6 kids, and many in their generation had 5+, but I am not counting them when I think of families my kids know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carriede Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 Eight. Then six. Another expecting a 5th. All young enough to have more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalypso Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 We know 1 family with 11 and 2 more with 10. Makes my family of 6 seem so small. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katy Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 14 (mostly adopted) kids is the largest family we know. They've been foster parents for 20 years and adopt every kid who stays with them who needs an adoptive home. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barnwife Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 Well, a family we are very close to is expecting #9 later this year. And we are fairly close to a couple families from our church with 8. (Is there where I mention all of these families are Catholic?) Oh wait, a high school babysitter we use is from a family of 9 or 10 I believe and they aren't Catholic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 Of people that I still cross paths with, it would be nine children. I knew one that had fourteen, but I haven't seen them in a very long while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BakersDozen Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 (edited) Their own, lol! Although we don't think of ourselves as a big family (13 kids) which is strange. We'll see someone with 5,6,7 kids and think, "Wow, they have a lot of kids! Oh, wait..." There is another family in town with 14 and another with 19 (yours/mine/ours kind of thing). It's kind of nice where we live because no one blinks at families with 6 kids or even 7. So we're not all that strange...well, maybe we get a few, "Wow!!" comments here and there. I remember being told after #4 that we wouldn't be able to have more children and again after #7. Definitely learned to not take things for granted... Edited August 30, 2019 by BakersDozen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lecka Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 (edited) What is bizarre to me — I have 3 kids but they are close in age (a set of twins plus an older brother) and I was asked *all the time* if I ran a home daycare, when they were younger. *All the time*. At the park, the library, swimming, the grocery store, etc. *All the time.* Edited August 30, 2019 by Lecka 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kassia Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 3 minutes ago, Lecka said: What is bizarre to me — I have 3 kids but they are close in age (a set of twins plus an older brother) and I was asked *all the time* if I ran a home daycare, when they were younger. *All the time*. At the park, the library, swimming, the grocery store, etc. *All the time.* I have four now, but when I had 3 - same as yours with twins and an older brother - I had people ask me if "all" the kids were mine. Once, I even turned around to see if there were other kids behind me because I couldn't figure out why someone would ask that. Biggest family my kids know would be 6-7, but my paternal grandmother had 18 children. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BakersDozen Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 8 minutes ago, Lecka said: What is bizarre to me — I have 3 kids but they are close in age (a set of twins plus an older brother) and I was asked *all the time* if I ran a home daycare, when they were younger. *All the time*. At the park, the library, swimming, the grocery store, etc. *All the time.* When I went out with just my twins and their older brother (13 month age difference) I was asked the same thing. I would laugh, thinking of the kids I didn't have with me. Maybe it's just seeing a bunch (if 3 is a bunch, lol) of littles all together? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 2 hours ago, Murphy101 said: LOL. Our own tops the list at 11. Outside of us, I think they “know of” a couple families in the 6-8 kids range. And know well several families with 5 kids. I don’t know what happens with kid 5, but it’s unusual for us to meet a family with more than 5 and when we do, it’s usually 7or8. Once in a very great while it’s 9. I don’t know any local families with 10 or more kids. At this point, most people don’t know I have 11 unless they ask me. The oldest 5 are 18 and up, so are busy with their own lives, still living at home or not. So I only have 6 out and about with me regularly. 7 person van The van works OK with 2 parents plus 5 kids, then a bigger mode of transport is needed if there are more kids. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lecka Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 On the home daycare — I would make kids share who were hogging trains at the train tables at the library (my kids would be all over the train tables), and I would just nicely direct some random kid ————— and then if that kid was hogging something at another table, I would have parents approach me to see if I was responsible for that kid, to let me know about something going on at another play table. People would just think that was one of my daycare kids. Nope. No home daycare. Just my own kids and saying something to other kids who tried to take all the trains. I always felt like I might need that too if I was busy with one kid and not sure exactly what another one might be getting up to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lecka Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 That is so funny!!!!!!!! I think part of it for me was I usually had two in a stroller and one holding onto the stroller. I think we looked like a daycare group. I also had a couple of times I talked to a woman with a twin stroller and it turned out she had one kid plus one kid she was babysitting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HS Mom in NC Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 Currently? 9 That we've ever known? 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonflower Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 47 minutes ago, unsinkable said: 7 person van The van works OK with 2 parents plus 5 kids, then a bigger mode of transport is needed if there are more kids. Yep! It's the 7 person van. We have 7 (#8 in progress). We are the largest family the kids know by a mile, but we don't get out much. We're not religious, so no church families or anything. Our extended family is not big on kids; I've heard that we're ruining the environment, etc. (hah) and SIL says regularly to her one female child, "aren't you glad you don't have brothers?" when our boys are being any sort of loud at all. The pressure to not have more kids has been strong since number 2 at least. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murphy101 Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 46 minutes ago, unsinkable said: 7 person van The van works OK with 2 parents plus 5 kids, then a bigger mode of transport is needed if there are more kids. I’m just saying having a 7 passenger van didn’t stop us from having sex after baby 5 was born. 😉 Granted we didn’t actually get a 12 passenger van until after baby 7 bc our dodge caravan at the time sat 8 with a modified middle bench and dh carpooled to work or took the van and I did without. There was a brief year or so between baby 7 and baby 8 where we didn’t go anywhere as a family in one vehicle. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murphy101 Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 2 minutes ago, moonflower said: Yep! It's the 7 person van. We have 7 (#8 in progress). We are the largest family the kids know by a mile, but we don't get out much. We're not religious, so no church families or anything. Our extended family is not big on kids; I've heard that we're ruining the environment, etc. (hah) and SIL says regularly to her one female child, "aren't you glad you don't have brothers?" when our boys are being any sort of loud at all. The pressure to not have more kids has been strong since number 2 at least. Sure the pressure and propaganda to not have more than 1-2 has been around since I had my first 25 years ago. I’d agree with that. But the cost of a 12 passenger van isn’t much different than a 7 passenger . 12 passenger is often cheaper to buy, so I’m not taking that claim terribly serious. I know some people are intimidated to drive a large vehicle, but given how many people I know with trucks just as big as my van, I’m iffy on that cause too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonflower Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 We don't go anywhere as a family in one vehicle. We didn't stop at 5 either obviously but I do remember thinking, sigh, this is the last kid for which this economical, normal-looking, whole-family-holding vehicle will work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 (edited) 13 kids (I think) Edited September 3, 2019 by EKS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2scouts Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 (edited) We have 5 children and know another family with 5 and there is one family at an extracurricular activity that has 8. In my area, people seem to think 3 is the acceptable number of children. I can't think of too many other large families that my kids know. ETA: We would have had more than 5 if infertility and pregnancy loss hadn't been an issue. Edited August 30, 2019 by mom2scouts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 My kids know several families with six kids. *I* know a couple of moms with more kids than that, but my kids don’t necessarily know anyone from those families well enough to know their family size. We know two or three families with seven kids and one with nine. I did meet a lady who used to do office work at my dentist and she had either fifteen or sixteen kids, I have forgotten which. There used to be some moms in my homeschool co-op who had between 8 and 11 kids, but I did not know them well. The largest families I know are Catholic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusyMom5 Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 I have 6, and I don't know anyone else with this many biological kids. We know one family with 13, most of them adopted. I know one with 5 and a handful with 4. Most people have 2 or 3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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