Does anyone have 5 kids these days? What’s it like raising them

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I CAN call myself a proud environmentalist and i enjoy having a large family. I birthed one child and we adopted a sibling group of 3 (from Ethiopia). We live in a 2500 sq. ft. house and it seems huge since that is bigger than the house I grew up in as one of 5 kids. I mean, at least now we have 2 bathrooms.

That’s awesome to hear. We won’t throw any environmental shade your way!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Real talk. 3 is enough. Nobody needs 4 kids these days. Kids don’t die in infancy and early childhood the way they used to.

Eh. Probably some people should have as many kids as they can handle, and some people shouldn’t have kids at all.

That bears no relationship to my comment.

You were discussing number of children, correct?! That poster replied discussing number of kids. Not sure what the heck you mean.
Nobody “needs” any kids. Nobody needs 3...why is that your arbitrary number?

It’s not arbitrary. It’s what OP has and it’s enough.

How do you know? Maybe she is a wonderful parent and should have eight kids. Maybe your kids are the ones who aren’t worth the strain on the environment. How could you possibly know?

I’m not saying she isn’t a good mom. I’m saying there’s no way to justify adding more people when she already ADDED 3! By any metric she has contributed to the human race and can stop now.

The thing is, it’s entirely likely that she is a better mom than you are, or that she and her husband are better at raising kids into adulthood than you are. I mean, maybe they aren’t, but you don’t really know. Assuming that they are, wouldn’t it make sense that they should have more kids, and you should have none?
I understand what you are saying about the environmental impact, and it’s true that across a population we shouldn’t do more than reproduce ourselves, but it doesn’t make sense to reduce that down to individual families. There is absolutely no reason that children have to be evenly distributed among households.

[Anonymous]

Large families are gross. Neglected kids, piles of wasted money, giant SUVs, giant wasteful houses, consume consume consume. Have one. Maybe two. You don’t need a damn football team in the house to have a happy family.

[Anonymous]

I know two families with 4 and one family with five. Dads always work, moms have no energy. The kids are left to fend for themselves. Older ones become nannies for the little ones. They never have money, family members are never well groomed. They rely on handouts- state subsidized day care, free school lunches and breakfasts, etc.

[Anonymous]

Also families with 4-5 kids don’t feel the joy 24/7 so they gladly offload their kids on anyone who will take them - sleepovers, friends, grandparents, etc.

[Anonymous]

I’m kind of secretly enjoying complaints of families with 3+ kids during quarantine.

You are stuck with 5 kids at home for a couple of months and it’s unbearable? Well, you’re dealing with consequences of your choices.

Usually, when you offload them to school, church or some poor grandparents you kind of escape the consequences of your decision. But now you can’t. Ahahaha (diabolic laughter)

[Anonymous]

My sister and BIL have 5 kids, and not for any religious reason. Ages 5-14. Their house is chaos 24/7, everything is trashed all the time, and there is a lot of noise. But there is also always someone to play with and the kids have strong relationships with each other. My kids love going over for visits because it's a kid-centered environment where they can let loose. It's fun, but I don't think I could stand it for my everyday life. Three is enough for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m kind of secretly enjoying complaints of families with 3+ kids during quarantine.

You are stuck with 5 kids at home for a couple of months and it’s unbearable? Well, you’re dealing with consequences of your choices.

Usually, when you offload them to school, church or some poor grandparents you kind of escape the consequences of your decision. But now you can’t. Ahahaha (diabolic laughter)

Conversely we are hearing your 1-2 FaceTime our children because they’re soooo bored. I believe there was a recent thread about onlies being bored during the pandemic.
You do you, but this is a spiteful comment given there aren’t actually any complaints on this thread about being home with lots of kids during the pandemic. I hope all family sizes are faring well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m kind of secretly enjoying complaints of families with 3+ kids during quarantine.

You are stuck with 5 kids at home for a couple of months and it’s unbearable? Well, you’re dealing with consequences of your choices.

Usually, when you offload them to school, church or some poor grandparents you kind of escape the consequences of your decision. But now you can’t. Ahahaha (diabolic laughter)

We have 4 kids and overall are liking the quarantine! We don’t have supportive grandparents or friends who can help anyways so it’s more of the usual, just less time in the van running to all activities. After the initial hurdles and chaos, we are now considering homeschooling long term because it’s so much fun and works with our lives better. Not sure why there is so much big family hate? I have no opinion on other sized families. Everyone should do what’s best for them!

[Anonymous]

We have four and if I was younger, we'd have more. They are having the time of their lives now. I will say, though, that we have a large house, live-in help, AND live-in grandparents. I would not have a large family in America without a strong support system and lots of money. For just the parents, four or five would be too much to handle if both parents work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m kind of secretly enjoying complaints of families with 3+ kids during quarantine.

You are stuck with 5 kids at home for a couple of months and it’s unbearable? Well, you’re dealing with consequences of your choices.

Usually, when you offload them to school, church or some poor grandparents you kind of escape the consequences of your decision. But now you can’t. Ahahaha (diabolic laughter)

What? In what world are children kept indoors 24/7? What are these consequences of your decision that you are talking about? Weird. You offload your children to school too, don't you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The families i know with 5 kids are Orthodox Jews or Mormons.

I hope i never hear any woman who has birthed 3 or more kids ever call herself an environmentalist, because I will give her an earful.

I hope to never hear anyone with 2 kids who regularly takes them on plane trips call herself an environmentalist because I will give her an earful.
I hope to never hear anyone with one child who is being driven to a separate activity everyday in a different part of the city call herself an environmentalist because I will give her an earful.
I hope to never hear anyone with no kids who spends all their money on travel but doesn't have solar panels call themselves an environmentalist because I will give them an earful.

+1

I understand your anger PPs but the fact remains adding an extra child is the biggest environmental cost vs everything else flying, driving etc. It’s not all n or nothing and everyone can still do their part trying to conserve resources but acknowledge your impact and try to not make more of those choices as you can.

Cite for this fact?

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20190920-the-couples-reconsidering-kids-because-of-climate-change

[Anonymous]

I have a former co-worker who has six kids, with the age spread from 17 to 5. My friend is a solo practitioner (lawyer) and his wife homeschools their kids. They live in a pretty big house but in the boonies in CA. They have a fair amount of family help nearby, so I think that makes a big difference. All in all, they seem super happy. I could never do it in a million years, and I don't have any other friends with more than three (most have two or one), but they make it work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m kind of secretly enjoying complaints of families with 3+ kids during quarantine.

You are stuck with 5 kids at home for a couple of months and it’s unbearable? Well, you’re dealing with consequences of your choices.

Usually, when you offload them to school, church or some poor grandparents you kind of escape the consequences of your decision. But now you can’t. Ahahaha (diabolic laughter)

We have 3 kids and things are going great. The house is clean and tidy and the kids play well with each other. I can imagine it would be hard if the parents are disorganized or the family doesn’t get along.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m kind of secretly enjoying complaints of families with 3+ kids during quarantine.

You are stuck with 5 kids at home for a couple of months and it’s unbearable? Well, you’re dealing with consequences of your choices.

Usually, when you offload them to school, church or some poor grandparents you kind of escape the consequences of your decision. But now you can’t. Ahahaha (diabolic laughter)

We have 3 kids and things are going great. The house is clean and tidy and the kids play well with each other. I can imagine it would be hard if the parents are disorganized or the family doesn’t get along.

Your house is not clean and tidy with 5 people at home all day lmao just stop