3 vs 4 kids

[Anonymous]

How do you handle school, sports, music, friends, etc. with more than 2?

[Anonymous]

So curious about this. I have always wanted 4, and currently have 3. The one thing stopping me from going for the 4th is how we would manage all the kids sports/activities as they get older.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you handle school, sports, music, friends, etc. with more than 2?

I have four. I take them to school and pick them up. They may not always have a hat on hat day, but I am pretty aware of their academics and supplement where necessary.
Sports, they generally go and support each other at meets/games/recitals. We carpool to practices. I have a swimmer, a soccer player, and a ballet dancer.
Music, they all take lessons at a conservatory at the same time. They practice daily. Usually they stagger their whining and procrastinating so I get some one on one time with each.
Friends, we generally schedule big play dates and have three or four friends over at once 3-4 times a month. Sometimes more. Sometimes they go to friends homes. They also see friends at sports and school.

I am sure this will change as kids get older. Right now, oldest is 10 and youngest is four.

[Anonymous]

We are at 3. Adding another doesn’t seem like that big of a deal but my DD feels outnumbered as the eldest of the three but only girl and mentions this constantly. There’s no guarantee it’d be a girl and she’s truly bothered by this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So curious about this. I have always wanted 4, and currently have 3. The one thing stopping me from going for the 4th is how we would manage all the kids sports/activities as they get older.

Honestly, I think if you don't work outside the home it would be doable. I posted earlier that four would require me quitting my job, which is one of the main reasons we're not adding a fourth. I don't even have a high-powered career, but I love my work, and don't see how I could keep working and reasonably manage the schedules of four kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So curious about this. I have always wanted 4, and currently have 3. The one thing stopping me from going for the 4th is how we would manage all the kids sports/activities as they get older.

Honestly, I think if you don't work outside the home it would be doable. I posted earlier that four would require me quitting my job, which is one of the main reasons we're not adding a fourth. I don't even have a high-powered career, but I love my work, and don't see how I could keep working and reasonably manage the schedules of four kids.

I have posted a couple of times on this thread. I work part time from 9am-2pm four days a week. It’s enough to carry the benefits for my family and pay someone else to do the cooking and laundry. I am not the main breadwinner though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So curious about this. I have always wanted 4, and currently have 3. The one thing stopping me from going for the 4th is how we would manage all the kids sports/activities as they get older.

Honestly, I think if you don't work outside the home it would be doable. I posted earlier that four would require me quitting my job, which is one of the main reasons we're not adding a fourth. I don't even have a high-powered career, but I love my work, and don't see how I could keep working and reasonably manage the schedules of four kids.

I have posted a couple of times on this thread. I work part time from 9am-2pm four days a week. It’s enough to carry the benefits for my family and pay someone else to do the cooking and laundry. I am not the main breadwinner though.

That right there is a game-changer, though, and you know it. So, sure, I guess if you can find a 20 hour/week job that gives benefits AND earns you enough to hire than kind of help, it could work. I don't think many of those exist, though. But that's also not the same as a FT career, and not every job lends itself to those hours.

[Anonymous]

I have three kids, youngest is five. Just tonight as I was dealing with cranky end of day meltdowns, I was thinking -thank goodness we stopped at 3. Three is a full house but I think four would set my sanity over the edge! It's a lot of noise, a lot of fun, and a lot of laundry.

I totally agree with the pp who mentioned that the real challenges of juggling 3 happen as they get older (including the school functions, homework, sports, music etc demands).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So curious about this. I have always wanted 4, and currently have 3. The one thing stopping me from going for the 4th is how we would manage all the kids sports/activities as they get older.

Honestly, I think if you don't work outside the home it would be doable. I posted earlier that four would require me quitting my job, which is one of the main reasons we're not adding a fourth. I don't even have a high-powered career, but I love my work, and don't see how I could keep working and reasonably manage the schedules of four kids.

I have posted a couple of times on this thread. I work part time from 9am-2pm four days a week. It’s enough to carry the benefits for my family and pay someone else to do the cooking and laundry. I am not the main breadwinner though.

That right there is a game-changer, though, and you know it. So, sure, I guess if you can find a 20 hour/week job that gives benefits AND earns you enough to hire than kind of help, it could work. I don't think many of those exist, though. But that's also not the same as a FT career, and not every job lends itself to those hours.

It is a game changer, but not as expensive as you think. I pay my housekeeper $25/hr for ten hours a week. I think most people pay $150 for every other week cleaning and $50/wk on take out. So, it’s about another $500/mo. You should consider it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are at 3. Adding another doesn’t seem like that big of a deal but my DD feels outnumbered as the eldest of the three but only girl and mentions this constantly. There’s no guarantee it’d be a girl and she’s truly bothered by this.

What a sad dynamic.