Please answer the following questions with one or two sentences! I know, that can be tough…
And please indicate if I can use your first name in the article!
A) How many kids do you have?
B) If you were the child in a large family:
1) What did you love the most about being in a large family?
2) What or did you feel that anything was missing or overlooked when you were growing up?
3) What do you think the misconceptions are when people think of larger families?
C) If you are the parent of a large family:
1) What makes you the happiest about having 4, 5 or more kids?
2) What are the greatest challenges about your big family?
3) What would be people be surprised to know about your large family?
Here are the questions in a document form!
Yes, you can use my first name if you would like.
A) I have 4 kids.
B) I only had 2 siblings growing up
C)
1. I love being able to see them grow into individuals. They are so different from each other and so great in their own ways.
2. Feeling like I have time for each child and also myself is a challenge. We had not intended to have more than 2 kids so we had to rethink some things (and we are still working on how to fit into a house made for a family of 4 with 6 people).
3. I feel self-conscious about how many kids I have in my 1-2 kid household town. I get a lot of comments that are something along the lines of how full my hands are, and it feels more critical than supportive.
A) I have 4 kids
B) I was the 4th of 5 kids
1. I loved having a variety of siblings with whom I’ve been closer with during various stages of life. I also liked the balance that several kids brought to the parent-child relationship: they were interested in what I did but were not watching my every move as though their own happiness and fulfillment depended on my next move.
2. I didn’t feel like things were overlooked for us as I was growing up. I could tell my parents were always trying to meet our various needs, even if it wasn’t always perfect.
3. I think some misconceptions are that kids in larger families don’t get enough attention from their parents or that their parents don’t really get to know them well because they’re spread so thin. That may happen, or some kids may perceive that to be the case, but I think that can happen no matter how many kids are in a family – even in single-children families – it’s about the level of engagement on the parents part as well as the temperament of the child, I think.
C) 1. What makes me happiest about being a parent of 4 children is helping them cultivate loving relationships with each other and seeing the moments where this love shines through between the siblings. So much of life boils down to learning to love and give of yourself in order to experience the joy and closeness that relationships can bring – larger families have a special opportunity to be a school for learning these skills of relating.
2. Some of the biggest challenges of having a larger family are figuring out how to “get it all done,” how to still find time for your marriage and yourself, and dealing with the disapproval, whether real or perceived, from modern society. While just taking care of the logistics is tough, and making sure the adults are in tune is tougher – sometimes I find the toughest part is feeling as though I am supposed to be apologizing for the existence of my kids.
3. Hmmm, I don’t know what would surprise people about my larger family. Maybe that they’re not mistakes, just four awesome kids with their own personalities that make getting up in the morning one of the best feelings on earth (next to sleep itself).
PS – feel free to use my name
Hi Meghan.
My brother asked me to fill this out for you.
A) 6
B.
1) Always someone to play with, if wanted
2) Alone time with parent
3) unplanned or irresponsible
C.
1) the love!! it multiplies exponentially
2) handling all of the individual personalities and, especially, schedules; getting away on vacation with the whole family
3) that some of the children absolutely ADORE each other (esp a much older and much younger sibling combo) and other combinations barely “tolerate” each other at some times and at other times get along great
A. 6
C. 1. The good times we had together and the people I’ve met because of them.
2. Coordination of activities and interests. As well as the volume of things to do. I raised my children in a different era and I was able to stay home but was very involved in their activities, church, school & community.
3. That we never thought that we were different because in my era large families were not an anomaly. In my circle of friends there were 6 families of the same size. Also, I never really felt overwhelmed by what needed to be done. You just did what you had to do, organized and moved on.