2017: Has marriage & 4-6 kids become the ultimate signal of real wealth?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not impressed whether you're poor or wealthy. This world needs to stop populating.

Key word. US birthrates are at historic lows, as are birthrates in pretty much all of the developed world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So much judgement from people who claim tolerance. I think if some of you really stopped and thought about the words you just typed, you might feel a little less smug.

We have five children. We are not wealthy, at least not by DC standards. I SAH. My DH makes 200,000 a year. We do not live in DC right now. My DH is based out of DC and we spend about 18-24 months in DC every five or six years. So no. Not rich.

We attend a Unity church. We are spiritual but not particularly religious. All larger families are not Mormon or Catholic.

I think we spend plenty of time with our children. At least I hope we do. Four of them are grown. They all appear to be happy, healthy, productive members of society. They all received merit based scholarships to college. We are a very close family. Our children are home often for visits. Unless I am reading them wrong, they seem to feel they received plenty of attention. I guess the jury is still out on the 17 year old. He seems to be a happy kid. Our biggest gift to our children is a mom and dad who have been happily married for 29 years.

I don't see a significant negative environmental impact. We are very environmentally conscious. We have always recycled. We reuse. We have a large garden and grow about 70% of our fruits and vegetables. We always have enough to share. Our home is solar powered. We collect rainwater for the garden. We compost. We create very little garbage compared to most smaller families. We usually don't even fill one trash can a week.

I think living in a large family can be a good thing. Our children learned responsibility at a very young age. Even at two years old our kids had simple home and farm chores like helping collect eggs or pulling vegetables. Some of our kids love life in the country and have chosen to stay closer to home. Our daughter loves DC and lives a very urban life. The thing they have in common is responsibility. Our four oldest kids left for college, graduated, got good jobs, two got married, and all four live completely independently. No one is crashing on our couch. At least not yet.

I would caution you to be careful with stereotypes. You don't know the details of other people's lives. You don't know how their family was created. You don't know why they chose a houseful of kids. I've learned that I'm usually wrong when I make quick, uninformed judgments about other people.

You're writing paragraph after paragraph apologizing for your huge family because you know, deep down, that none of what you said above is true.

What do you think is untrue? Do you really believe all larger families fit stereotypes? I can write paragraphs because I'm recovering from surgery. I love talking about my kids!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those kids are too close in age to be siblings.

The babies would have to be twins. Maybe even a b/g pair of the others too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not impressed whether you're poor or wealthy. This world needs to stop populating.

Key word. US birthrates are at historic lows, as are birthrates in pretty much all of the developed world.

That's a good thing. We don't need any more dumbasses being born.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So much judgement from people who claim tolerance. I think if some of you really stopped and thought about the words you just typed, you might feel a little less smug.

We have five children. We are not wealthy, at least not by DC standards. I SAH. My DH makes 200,000 a year. We do not live in DC right now. My DH is based out of DC and we spend about 18-24 months in DC every five or six years. So no. Not rich.

We attend a Unity church. We are spiritual but not particularly religious. All larger families are not Mormon or Catholic.

I think we spend plenty of time with our children. At least I hope we do. Four of them are grown. They all appear to be happy, healthy, productive members of society. They all received merit based scholarships to college. We are a very close family. Our children are home often for visits. Unless I am reading them wrong, they seem to feel they received plenty of attention. I guess the jury is still out on the 17 year old. He seems to be a happy kid. Our biggest gift to our children is a mom and dad who have been happily married for 29 years.

I don't see a significant negative environmental impact. We are very environmentally conscious. We have always recycled. We reuse. We have a large garden and grow about 70% of our fruits and vegetables. We always have enough to share. Our home is solar powered. We collect rainwater for the garden. We compost. We create very little garbage compared to most smaller families. We usually don't even fill one trash can a week.

I think living in a large family can be a good thing. Our children learned responsibility at a very young age. Even at two years old our kids had simple home and farm chores like helping collect eggs or pulling vegetables. Some of our kids love life in the country and have chosen to stay closer to home. Our daughter loves DC and lives a very urban life. The thing they have in common is responsibility. Our four oldest kids left for college, graduated, got good jobs, two got married, and all four live completely independently. No one is crashing on our couch. At least not yet.

I would caution you to be careful with stereotypes. You don't know the details of other people's lives. You don't know how their family was created. You don't know why they chose a houseful of kids. I've learned that I'm usually wrong when I make quick, uninformed judgments about other people.

You're writing paragraph after paragraph apologizing for your huge family because you know, deep down, that none of what you said above is true.

What a bitter bitch you are.

NP and yes, the most ( self-proclaimed) open minded, liberal-leaning, diversity-loving free thinkers are the most close minded. Really, PP you are one of the intolerant types I despise. Not everyone shares your world view. You'd never, ever say this to a colleague, a family member or a neighbor. No. You preach tolerance, but you are tolerant of only those who supposedly share your opinions and lifestyle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Italians haven't been having children for a long while now. The government has been trying to get them to procreate.

Looks like Dolce & Gabana are trying to make it look glamorous as wel.

Though, frankly, with that guy in his "wife-beater" tee and all of those kids it reminds me of an Irish family during the potato famine.

Isn't that because Italy has a very high unemployment rate for young people?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sheer fantasy. We'd all look like her after popping out six kids in six years.

Look at Natalya Vodyanova after popping 5 kids!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sheer fantasy. We'd all look like her after popping out six kids in six years.

Look at Natalya Vodyanova after popping 5 kids!

She looks like she has an eating disorder.

[Anonymous]

I'm concerned with this.

The rise of white supremacy and xenophobia.
The push for the white babies.
There is a historical context for this and we're in dangerous territory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm concerned with this.

The rise of white supremacy and xenophobia.
The push for the white babies.
There is a historical context for this and we're in dangerous territory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my circle it's 3-4 kids, private school, a country club and a house at the beach or in the mountains and a SAHM.

This, except I would say the cutoff is 4 kids

I agree with this, though there are plenty of poor families with 4 kids too. I don't know any really wealthy families with 5 or 6 kids. 2-4 is the norm. For one thing, most educated people don't start having kids until their late 20s or early 30s (even the ones who don't need to work), and they space their kids out to some extent. 5-6 kids, especially if close in age, screams "religious fundamentalist" to me.

4 kids all in good private schools, yes you are clearly wealthy. But the few people I know with 5 or 6 kids are strict Catholics and struggling financially.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm concerned with this.

The rise of white supremacy and xenophobia.
The push for the white babies.
There is a historical context for this and we're in dangerous territory.

??? I am a minority and have no problem with whites having more babies to preserve the white race. It doesn't necessarily make them racist. Same with any other race, as long as they don't also espouse oppressing other people. Live and let live.

[Anonymous]

Probably yes

[Anonymous]

I think it's beautiful. I would love to have a big family.

[Anonymous]

I've never understood the rationale for having 4,5 or even 6 or more kids. It seems grossly selfish....and actually just gross on some level. A hundred or more years ago people had as many kids as they could because there was a high death rate and they needed extra hands to tend the farm. But today, what is the rationale? It just seems so irresponsible and dilutive to good parenting.